Fallout
by amacma
Summary: Set after "another day". James Heller asks Jack to rescue Audrey from a place where terrorists just detonated an atomic bomb. She recovered from China and they both moved on - at least they thought they had. Rated T for violence/torture. Disclaimer: I do not own 24 or it's characters.
1. Prologue

_Hello Everybody, _

_I'm back, and this is the second part of my 24 story. It wll continue from the point where "another day" ended. _

_Previously: Chloe blackmailed President Taylor to pardon Jack for all his past crimes. He was helping CTU but they were unable to stop major terrorist attacks from happening. _

_Severe Terrorist attacks took out the power grid and thereafter ignited three bombs, one of them in California. _

_Jack and another guy from CTU - McCoy, had to watch the bomb go off in the distance. _

_This will be Jack/Audrey._

_Please Read and tell me what you think about it. Enjoy!_

* * *

Prologue, Sunday, 07:16 am LT, South of Bakersfield

Audrey could still not believe it. Jack was here with her. He was still fast asleep, right next to her. Her head rested on his upper right arm. His left arm lay around her waist, like her right arm was around his.

She softly stroked over his naked skin. For the first time now, in the daylight, she could really see him precisely.

He looked worse than she had remembered him.

Concerned she stroked over his back -gentle enough not to make him wake up.

She looked at his face, inches away from her.

She had never completely forgotten him, though she had to admit, that in the last two years, she had thought less about him. The years before thoughts about him had almost constantly accompanied her. She had thought of him when she had woken up, when she had gone to sleep, when she had had a nightmare of their time in China, when she thought of her former job at the DOD,… every second.

There had been a time where she had been angry at him, for that he had left her.

Then there had been a time when she had even forgiven him about that.

Then there had been a time when her grief had had an end she was able to forget about him.

As she saw him lying here in front of her now she realized that she had never forgotten him completely. That simple view put butterflies in her stomach.

She stroked softly over his cheek. There was a small laceration above his left eyebrow. His hair was disheveled and the stubble on his cheeks showed her that he hadn't shaved in days.

Audrey had to admit that she had never known him like that. She had spent her time with him in Washington. There, she knew, he had not lived like he had ever done it before or afterwards. He was not one of the guys from the government, always wearing a perfect black suit. During their time in D.C. she had only caught a glimpse of him, how he really was.

She had read his file after he had 'died'. The man which had been portrayed there had so much more fit what she had seen of him.

She had fallen in love again, with that imaginary person who she gotten to know in these files.

Exactly that person lay in front of her now.

He slightly moved as he woke.

As he opened up his eyes he saw her face. It felt like waking up into a dream.

.

* * *

The Friday before, 17:00 pm LT, North of Los Angeles

As their satellite phone rang for the first time, Jack didn't really care to answer it. He was sitting at the hood of their car, surrounded by all the others who had stopped at the highway to see this gigantic mushroom cloud rise at the horizon. They all were watching and staring into the open field, watching the impossible.

He felt like he had failed, and he wasn't the only one around here to think like that.

Walsh had disappeared, leaving them to watch the impossible, like if he had wanted them to be the audience for their show.

A few minutes after the blast, the blast wave reached them here. It wasn't more than a small wind, since they were about eighty miles away. Panic had started to spread around the others on the highway. Some turned their cars around to go back south, just to get further away from the blast site.

But then again, it had been dead silent for endless minutes after the blast.

Jack wasn't able to think of anything else any more. As McCoy approached him, holding the sat phone, he didn't even react. "Jack?"

"Agent Bauer?", the man called again.

Finally, he turned to him. "Yes?", he answered, finding out that his voice was shaky. He cleared his throat as he stood up.

"There is a call for you, Secretary of Defense, Heller.", he said and offered the phone for Jack to take it.

Jack hesitated. He had some kind of a past with Heller and didn't actually like to talk to that man. "Hasn't your Director informed him about the recent events?"

"He has, but Secretary Heller insisted to speak personally with you."

Jack hesitatingly took the sat phone. As he had taken it he went a few steps away from the crowd before he answered the call. "Bauer."

"Jack, this is James Heller speaking."

"I was already told, Mr. Secretary."

Heller took a deep breath before he continued. He heard from Jack's voice that he was not in any mood to have a friendly conversation with him, so he decided to get straight to the point. "Jack, this is about Audrey.", he said.

Jack stopped walking. "Go ahead.", he said to Heller.

"Jack, I know that I am the last person on earth to request a favor from you…"

"… damn right, Sir.", Jack cut in, "I don't need to remember you that you've successfully destroyed my life.", he hissed. "This conversation is over."

"Audrey is in Bakersfield.", Heller quickly said, before Jack had any chance to hang up.

At once Jack turned around, staring at the mushroom cloud which rose north of them. It was possibly a hundred miles away. Bakersfield lay in the same direction, about 30 miles closer. He couldn't help staring with an open mouth. A thousand thoughts were suddenly rushing through his mind, but he wasn't able to say one thing.

They had stopped here because getting any closer would possibly lead them into a contaminated zone. Bakersfield was one of the towns which couldn't be evacuated any more. It simply was too close to the explosion.

"Jack?", Heller asked after a few endless moments without a word.

Eventually Jack got back part of his composure. "Where is she?"

"The last time I heard from her was yesterday evening. She is staying in the Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and had surgery for an appendix removal on Tuesday."

Jack was still unable to respond. Audrey. Until a few months ago he had been thinking about her every day of his life. Lately, his memories for her had slightly faded. Almost instantly he felt guilty for that.

"Jack, are you still there?", Heller said.

"Yes…", Jack stammered, "… I'll call you back, Sir." They didn't need to say any other words.

Heller knew what that meant. A huge load fell off his chest. For a moment he thought of thanking Jack, but then again it seemed inappropriate. Instead he said, "Jack, one more thing. You should know that she recovered… from China."

"Good to hear.", Jack answered, "I'll call you."

He ended the call and handed the phone back to McCoy.

Quickly Jack went back to their car. His bag lay at the back seats. Then he opened up the trunk and pulled out the arms supplies. He took a gun and another one extra. Engh clips with ammunition. A torch, a monocular and a longer knife. His cell phone was probably useless after the reception had totally broken down.

McCoy approached Jack from behind. "Jack? What did Heller need?"

Jack hesitated for a moment before he turned around. Should he tell them the truth? That he was planning to go into the evacuation zone?

"Heller's daughter is apparently in Bakersfield.", Jack said without any other accompanying commentary.

McCoy took a deep breath. He also turned to the rising cloud and then back at Jack. "We've got the strict order not to enter the contamination zone. That's protocol. Not since we don't even know what type of weapon has really gone off."

Jack smiled condescendingly. "Oh come on. We all know this was nuclear, right? Just nobody dares to speak it out loud."

"What are you planning to do?", McCoy asked.

"I'm going to Bakersfield.", Jack remarked and took his bag out of the car. "Can I borrow the car? You can go back to the city with anyone of these people."

McCoy was so petrified by Jacks plan that at first he didn't respond at all. "You… you are not honestly planning to go there?", he asked, "Do you know what's about to go down there? Ever heard about fallout? You'd not even make it to Bakersfield to get a physically threatening radiation dose."

Jack didn't even listen to him. "Yes or no on the vehicle? I'm on orders directly from the Secretary of Defense.", he lied. It seemed the most convincing lie at the moment to get a car. Since Heller had just talked to him right before it was even credible.

"Yes, but Jack-", McCoy tried to stop Jack before entering one of their black SUVs. "You could be signing your death warrant with this."

Jack threw his bag on the front passengers seat and got it. "I'm aware of that.", he answered and started the engine.

McCoy couldn't believe what he saw. That man was going into certain death. He had like 5 or 6 hours before the fallout would come down over the city.

As Jack drove past the standing vehicles his whole mind was focused on that mission. His decision to go to Bakersfield hat stood in the moment as he had heard Audrey's name over the phone. No matter how many differences he had had with Heller, no matter how much he had hated that man, he was thankful that he had given him the chance to get Audrey out.

Jack looked at his wristwatch. He guessed that they would have to be out of the city again at latest around midnight, if they didn't want to get into the fallout.

He raced the highway towards Bakersfield. Hundreds of cars came towards him in the opposite direction. Right now he was the only one who went north.


	2. Search, pt 1

Search, pt. 1 Friday, 20:30 pm LT, Bakersfield

Jack parked his car underground the hospital. He hadn't felt good leaving it here, but he had to take that risk to search for Audrey.

There were riots all over the city, people robbed all the stores, others were running away after they had heard rumors that the clouds above them consisted of pure poison. Only some were about to stay and protect their property.

Jack had never seen something like that before. These were the first days of a beginning war. He had seen zones with raging wars before- but never the beginning. It was the most horrible of all. The further he had driven due north, the worse it had become. Everywhere people were leaving their houses. Then he had come to the zone where the first damages had been visible- broken window panes, but not more. He had driven through a little zone where some houses had suffered by a wave of pressure blast. But this private hospital here in Bakersfield hadn't sustained more damage than a few cracked windows. _Thank god,_ Jack thought. He tried to avoid to look up to the sky, where a massive, black cloud was beginning to form.

Quickly he fought his way into the hospital. There was chaos around, everywhere. They were trying to evacuate, but more and more new wounded people streamed into the building.

Jack went through rows of people with bleeding cuts all over their faces, caused by glass splinters and other objects. Some others got rushed in, as they had sustained heavy injuries from one of the many car crashes or gun fights around. He headed straight through to the reception desk.

The lady who sat there looked horribly exhausted. "Sir?", she asked as she saw him.

"Hi. I'm looking for someone- her name is Audrey Raines."

The lady searched her lists. "I'm sorry. We don't have anybody here named Audrey Raines."

"Please try her maiden name – Audrey Heller.", he said, leaning over the counter to sneak a peek on her desk. The computer screen was dark. Only a meager emergency lighting kept the place going at all. The EMP must have destroyed all their electronic systems. She searched dozens of paper lists for Audrey's name.

"Sir, I'm sorry. When was she brought here? If it has been less than half a day ago, I'll have to apologize, we're in some kind of a terrible mess here."

That couldn't be, Jack told himself. That was the right hospital, like Heller had said. "She was brought here a week ago, for an appendectomy. Where is the relevant ward?"

"Up to the fourth floor, on the right. But Sir, that is a restricted…", _area_, she wanted to say, but he was already gone.

Jack ran up one of the fire stairs since he figured the elevators would be out of service. Audrey had to be here. It was the right hospital, the one Heller had told him. Heller had said that he had talked to her only a day ago.

Suddenly the worst thoughts came across his mind. She was still the daughter of the secretary of defense. What if they had kidnapped her? What if she wasn't here any more and all traces of her were already wiped out? Had anyone known at all that she'd be here?

Jack stormed into the ward. It was completely empty. From outside the building he could hear sirens of ambulance cars and screams of people. Up here on the fourth floor, the windows had burst after the blast wave. The escape lighting, powered by the emergency generators, dimly illuminated the ward, making it look even more unreal.

He opened the first door to his right, finding an abandoned sickroom. The next five rooms looked the same. The whole ward had been evacuated.

Jack took out his mobile phone, more out of a habit, than out of hope that the network had restored power. No reception. He should have known.

At a loss he went over to the ward's main station. He was looking for the patient's records, which he finally found hung to a pillar.

Feverishly he searched the names. Raines… nothing. Heller… nothing. Until his name got stuck in the file of Anderson, Audrey. This was the best match he could find. A bad feeling crept up his spine. Heller hadn't told him anything about this.

He took the file and had a look at it. Born June 17th, Age 39, 5ft 7' tall, 116lbs, appendectomy – the description fit her perfectly. Jack took the file with him and kept reading, as he slowly went down the hall. She had had the surgery four days ago, without complications. The last entry in the file was from yesterday evening, well before that bomb had gone off. There was no information, where they had brought her for evacuation.

As Jack leafed through the pages he found the usual documents. Advance directives, appointments of legal representatives for health care, living will… the documents had one thing in common – they were issued to a man named Miles Anderson, her husband.

His breath caught. Well, what had he expected? To find her the same broken like the day when he had left her? He pushed that fact aside as he went on. That file he took with him.

As he left the ward a man rushed past him. Jack judged he might be a doctor, since he was wearing a white lab coat. "Excuse me, Sir.", he approached him. "Where have they brought the people of this ward?"

"All our patients are being brought to Lancaster Community hospital, Sir.", he answered, but didn't stop. He rushed on, leaving Jack alone in the corridor.

Lancaster. Jack tried to recall which was the shortest way to Lancaster. No matter which way the took, they would drive right into the fallout zone. Lancaster was also being evacuated, but they couldn't know since the telephone lines were out.

He started to run back to his car. His best chance to find Audrey was to follow their way to Lancaster. Even it meant going right beneath the clouds of black rain.


	3. Search, pt 2

Search, pt. 2 Friday, 21:17 pm LT, Bakersfield

Jack sat in his car, driving. All around in this area, there was no reception. He figured that might be caused by the blackout in the power grid rather than the EMP effect of the nuclear bomb. At least he hoped it would be like that.

As he had left the hospital, he had found several ambulance cars, which were all on their way to Lancaster. He had asked the drivers which routes they were about to take and they all told him that the protocols recommended to use the Golden State Highway down to Route 5, until reaching Frazier Mountain.

He hoped they had not come that far. Nobody had been able to tell them in which car Audrey had gone or when they had left.

Jack had just reached the outskirts of the city of Bakersfield, when he saw the road blocked in front of them. It was a small settlement which he was driving through right now.

About twenty cars had heaped up, behind a road block caused of some crashed cars.

Jack drove into one of the large, dusty parking lots beside the street. He took out his monocular and had a look at the crash. A black SUV had crashed head-on into an old Ford. Behind it, a white van had also crashed into them. It couldn't have been long ago. Could that be the ambulance which carried Audrey? He was too far away to get a good look.

People were getting out of the cars, having a look at the crash site. They blocked his view.

Suddenly some of them started running back to their cars. It needed a while until he heard the shots.

_Damnit,_ Jack thought and jumped out of his car. He knew, he shouldn't leave his car, but there was hardly a choice.

His weapon drawn he started to run towards the site of the crash, through the rows of cars. Eventually he reached the head of the traffic jam. He hid behind the first of the cars, trying to understand this situation.

The crash seemed to have been staged, to let the ambulance crash. Three men were around, shooting around aimlessly to keep others away. They were just about to rob the ambulance van. Jack took out the monocular again to have a look at the scene. He couldn't tell if this was the ambulance car which carried Audrey. He didn't want to shoot at these men. They were neither terrorists nor public enemies.

Jack sat there, watching, waiting.

One of them climbed into the back of the ambulance. The medic inside seemed to defend himself, until the assaulters grabbed him harshly and threw him out of the van. But the man didn't give up so easily. He fought back onto his feet.

One of the assaulters turned around to him and aimed his gun at him.

Jack couldn't hear what they were talking from his position. One of these men went to the forward side of the ambulance van and dragged the driver out of it. After he shoved him onto the street, he simply executed that man.

He couldn't believe what he saw. This kind of brutality didn't match a simple robbery. He had a closer look on the men in the back of the van. They were exceptionally well armed. To his surprise, they all wore the same armor. This looked more like an assault than a robbery within a civil war.

Eventually, he moved over to the left row of parked cars and hid behind. When peeking over the hood of the first car he had a good shot at the one guy who had taken out the driver.

Jack took his shot.

The two men in the back of the car stirred. One of them jumped out, just to be taken out by the next of Jack's bullets. But he didn't dare to take a shot on the third one of them, since there was still a chance that Audrey was inside that car.

On the way here he had overtaken four ambulance cars, which of three had originated from Audrey's hospital.

Suddenly he heard shots. They came from a place behind him, but he couldn't tell where from they came, aimed at the last guy within the vehicle.

Jack looked out for the sniper, but couldn't find him. He thought to have seen a muzzle fire down from the second floor of an adjacent building, but that was might wrong as another volley of shots came out of a thoroughly different place.

Suddenly he found himself in the middle of what seemed to be a civil war. Plunderers against people on the run, against shopkeepers and house owners – suddenly the whole street was aimlessly fighting.

Many of the people in the traffic jam carried weapons with them. They shot back at the muzzle flames from the houses.

A volley of shots missed Jack only by a few inches.

He hurriedly crawled over to the car on his left, but he couldn't be sure if he was out of the shot line. Everybody was suddenly fighting against anyone.

Jack had another look at the ambulance. What if Audrey was in there? If she was, he would have to act fast, because the last fugitive, who hid inside the ambulance, was under heavy attack.

Jack ran over to the sidewalk. He ran along the facades of the houses to finally get closer to the ambulance from the other side. The closer he got, the closer also the bullets got.

He crawled closer, hiding between the crashed cars.

During this gunfire, the man in the back of the van didn't even realize that behind him the front passenger door of the van was opened up and Jack slid into the vehicle. Thank god it was open van, Jack thought. There was no partition panel between the front seats and the rear of the van. He had an excellent shot at the man and took it.

The man's dead body toppled over and fell out of the van.

But that didn't stop the gunfight on the outside. Everybody was firing at anyone.

Jack climbed over the front seats, into the back. He closed the rear doors to have a bit of protection against the fight.

The back of the van was devastated. One medic was dead, lying at the ground. Somebody lay at the stretcher, but there was dressing stuff, packs of medicine and other things around everywhere.

Carefully Jack pushed the mess away, when he finally saw her face.

Audrey.

She lay there, looking like a sleeping angel.

Hurriedly he felt her pulse. It was normal. He searched her whole body for gunshot wounds, but she hadn't sustained any.

"Audrey?", he silently said. "Audrey?", a bit louder.

No reaction.

Judging from her position, he guessed that she had been knocked out by the crash since she hadn't been strapped to the stretcher or buckled up.

Jack put his gun back into the holster at his belt and grabbed her body with both of his hands. He lifted her up to carry her out of here. Her head fell lifelessly against his chest and her blonde hair spread all over his right shoulder. He saw that she was slowly starting to wake up.

"It's going to be alright, sweetheart.", he whispered into her ear as he opened one half of the van's back doors.

The gunfight was still going on. They hadn't aimed at the ambulance any more but were shooting at something else.

Jack saw that he had to take his chances right now, jump out there and run over to the next building. Together with Audrey- in that condition – he couldn't leave the van through the front door.

If they'd shoot at him and Audrey he simply had to pray that they would aim well and rely on his bulletproof vest.

Jack held Audrey in front of him, shielding her with his own body, as he rushed away from the van. Right before reaching the sidewalk he felt the sharp pain on his lower right side and stumbled. For a moment he felt like he couldn't breathe any more.

Audrey lay beneath him. He watched her face – she was waking up from unconsciousness right now – but he couldn't speak one word. Two more yards- just across the sidewalk – and they would have reached the open door to one of the adjacent houses.

Jack forced himself to go on. He slid his right arm beneath Audrey's body to pick her up once more, if only to drag her along with him. Since they had been lying on the ground the gunfighters had not been interested in them anymore. He knew that this would rapidly change one he stood up again.

He heard Audrey saying something. Now there was no time for this.

Quickly he pulled her up with him and started running once more. Two yards could feel like a mile.

Right as he had the halfway opened door within his grasp another bullet hit the back of his vest, making him stumble. They had almost been inside the house when a second bullet his shoulder- above the vest.

Audrey yelled as they both crashed to the ground inside the building, Jack on top of her. He quickly rolled away and fought to get on his feet again, while drawing his weapon.

Audrey lay at her back, on the floor. She had just woken up and watched with disbelieve what was going on around her. Was this a bad dream? The noise of the shots, as that man in her room fired at somebody, was so loud that it hurt her ears. _This is not a dream,_ it slowly got into her mind. Her view was still fixed on the man who was in the room with her. She couldn't see his face since her view was blurred. He wore all black clothes, light hair... he leant against the wall on the back side of the room. Momentarily he had put his gun back into the holster and took off his jacket. He sighed deeply and touched his left shoulder.

Audrey could see that his hand was smeared with blood afterwards. She watched him, as he wiped the blood into his black trousers and then turned around.

Jack.

He slowly went back to her, seeing that she had her eyes open and stared at him with disbelieve.

Audrey felt her heart beating quickly- the pulse hammered inside her chest, inside her whole body, so loud, that she could hear it. She wanted to say something to him, her mouth had already opened, but no words would come out.

Spellbound she stared at him, as he knelt down next to her. His eyes wouldn't let hers go for one second. He took his black jacket, helped her to sit up and put it around her shoulders. Thereafter he helped her to move over to the nearest wall and she leant sitting against it. Jack would just kneel in front of her, saying nothing, at a loss for words, too.

Now this was the first moment he had got time to watch her. She looked gorgeous as ever, with her long blond hair which she wore loosely. There was no make-up on her face, but it didn't need it in any case to make her one of the most beautiful women he ever knew. He prayed that Heller had said the truth when he had mentioned, that she was no longer in this terrible shape in which she had been after China.

"Hey…", he said, almost tonelessly.

"Hi Jack….", Audrey answered. She tried to smile, but then again something else overwhelmed her. She fought hard to keep her composure.

"How are you?", he silently asked, "can you stand up? Can you walk?"

She nodded. "Yeah, should work out if you help me stand up."

Jack bent forward and grabbed her beneath her armpits to help her up.

A bit clumsy, but determined, she stood on her feet.

He supported her as well as he could, and guided her further into the building.

They were inside an apartment, which had been abandoned by the owners. Some drawers were open, some worthwhile things seemed to be missing.

With his right hand he supported Audrey, in his left Jack kept the gun ready.

But the house had been and was empty.

He guided Audrey over to the couch and let her lie down. After walking a short round through the apartment, making sure that it really was abandoned, he came back to her and sat down at the small table in front of the couch.

He was still at a loss for words. Seeing her again screwed him up more than he wanted to.

Audrey felt the same.

Outside, the gunfire continued.

"What's going on here, Jack?", she managed to ask.

He took a deep breath and held it. "How much do you know about it?", he asked back, "What did they tell you?"

"Is it true this was a nuclear explosion?" Audrey almost couldn't believe her own words as she spoke them.

Jack nodded his head yes. "Definitely looks like it."

Audrey took a deep breath and held it. She had been working for the DOD and she didn't need him to explain her what they were facing. Everything inside the inner radius had been reduced to rubble. They had to be somewhere in the secondary area… contaminated by radioactive radiation, fallout, permanent contamination by fission products.  
A cold shower ran down her spine. "How far away?", she asked Jack.

Though he had avoided to look at them, he hadn't been able to deny them. "About 30 miles, probably.", he answered, "The mushroom cloud had already reached the stratosphere, it's now spreading along the tropopause. I can't tell you for sure when it will reach us or when it'll start to rain."

"Are they at least coming to evacuate us?", she begged.

Jack showed no reaction.

"Jack?", Audrey asked again, "Are they coming?"

He fought for the right words. "No…", he eventually answered. "We are…. too close to the blast site."

Audrey knew what that meant. They were inside a parameter where immediate physical damage was likely to occur.

Jack slid a bit closer to her. "We have to get away from here, Audrey.", he started. "Are you up to this? Are you able to walk?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll be okay."

Jack didn't really trust her judgment. He had seen how much every step demanded from her, just as he had led her from the hall to the couch.

"First of all we've got to find something to wear for you.", he pointed at her hospital clothes. By that time, his view got stuck on the golden marriage ring on her left hand.

Quickly Jack stood up and turned away. He let his view wander around in the living room, until he had found a picture of the family that had lived here. The man and his wife were about his and Audrey's figure.

"I'll be right back.", he told her and rushed up the stairs to get something to wear.

* * *

_more is on the way...!_

_Reviews welcome!_


	4. Disguise

Disguise Friday, 21:42 pm LT, Bakersfield

Twenty minutes later they both left the building on its back side and slowly made their way down the street again. Jack thought it would be best to make their way back towards the city center again, steal a car somewhere and then get out. Here in the outskirts they had pretty little chances left it they'd not find a car very soon and could leave.

The street fight was still raging. It had even intensified.

Audrey had never seen such a terrible scene ever before in her life. People were running aimlessly over the streets. Nearly all the houses around here had been broken in to. Whoever had gun was now firing it. The cars which hadn't been stolen were being stolen now, or set on fire.

Whole families ran for their lives.

The survival of the fittest had replaced the law.

She felt the sharp pain in her abdomen, as she went on. Though Jack was supporting her as well as he could, she felt like any other step would kill her.

"Jack…", she pleaded silently. "Stop."

He held her tighter. "Ten yards, then we've got cover.", he whispered into her ear. He saw how it hurt her to move on, and this hurt him even more than that gunshot wound in his left shoulder. But he simply couldn't let them stop right now, without cover.

"Just eight more steps, Audrey, then you can take a rest.", he encouraged her.

She groaned with pain, not able to answer him.

Then, suddenly, her knees gave in. Jack caught her weight, before she hit the ground. Swearing and cursing he put away his gun and lifted up her body with both his arms now, carrying her to that recess where he had planned to take cover.

He put her softly down, leaning her back against the house wall behind them. She was unconscious. "Audrey.", Jack murmured softly, but she showed no reaction.

He felt her pulse and was relieved that it was normal.

Jack also sat down next to her and leant back. Their situation was getting worse and worse. She was in a worse condition than he had suspected her to be. The riots were worse than he had ever imagined they could be. As he looked up into the sky he saw a large heap cloud, black from the dirt which had been whirled up by the explosion. It was forming dimensions which he had never guessed could be possible. They had to get away from here, before the rain would set in and take its deadly fallout down to the ground.

Jack stood up and went towards the corners at the edge of their hideout to have a look over the street. There was pure hectic, disorder and riot all around. Whoever could run, ran. Whoever had a gun was now using it.

Across the street, a man was guarding his car, which stood in the driveway. He was armed, knelt beside it and was ready to fight against anybody, who might came to steal his car.

Jack watched how the door of his house opened and his wife came out, carrying a maybe two year old child. He dropped the plan to steal this car. _Damnit,_ he thought, _I can't do this to them._ But then again, this car- this opportunity- was their only chance left. He saw from over here they had some free space on their backseats. He simply had to try and get into that car.

Hurriedly Jack turned around to Audrey again and eyeballed her. She wore blue jeans and a way too large sweatshirt now, over her hospital gown. Around her arm she still wore that hospital bracelet, yet to mention her golden marriage ring.

Jack peeked back at the couple on the other street side. Maybe he had a chance of going with them, if he told them the right story about him and Audrey and got a bit of their trust. That family looked decent. Would they probably take another couple along, if he simply asked them? Audrey really looked like she needed help. If they would only show a bit of sympathy for her situation they would probably let him and Audrey come with them.

Jack put away his gun, back into the holster at his belt. He had thrown away his black jacket and had taken another one along from that apartment where they had been. It also was black, but thank god had no bullet holes and blood on it.

He zipped it up to hide the gun and his bulletproof vest, trying to hide everything which could lessen their trust in him and Audrey.

As he bent down to pick her up he realized that there was still one important thing missing. It was just a detail, but it damaged their image- he didn't wear the same golden ring like she did. Maybe the others wouldn't notice, maybe they would.

Jack knew the solution for this problem, yet still he hesitated.

Slowly he took out his wallet. It had a little division which he almost never opened.

_Forgive me, Teri,_ he murmured, as he opened it up and pulled out their wedding ring. It was plain gold and unobtrusive, looking so similar to the one Audrey wore. Nobody would notice the difference.

He felt somehow guilty as he put it on. It had been so many years ago, when he had last worn it.

With a huge sigh he pushed the memories about Teri aside. He heaved up Audrey's unconscious body once more and went the dangerous way across the street, with her in his arms.

The family on the other side at first didn't even see them approaching.

When they first did, the other man came around their car, his gun drawn, pointing it at Jack. "Stop right there!", he yelled. "Don't even think of coming closer!" He held Jack at gunpoint.

Jack avoided to look into the others eyes. He knelt down, put Audrey down in front of him. "I'm sorry.", he answered him. "We're just looking for a ride."

"Well, anyone is.", the other spoke. "Not with us."

Jack gave him a closer look. That man was probably in his mid-thirties. The way he held his gun showed that he didn't have a lot of practice with the usage of guns. In no case he had ever had to do with them for a living. _I would be able to overwhelm him_, Jack thought, but dropped that thought right away. This was not a terrorist. It was a simple citizen, defending his family in the moment of greatest crisis. Actually, he owed him his respect.

"We won't be any burden.", Jack silently said. "We need to get out of here just the way you do."

The other pointed his gun at Audrey. "What's up with her?"

"She was in the Baltimore Memorial Hospital for surgery. As they were evacuating their ambulance crashed, that's how we got here.", Jack answered. He knelt at the ground. Audrey he had put down, too. Her back now leant against his torso and her head lay lifelessly at his chest.

Behind Audrey's back, out of his opponent's sight, he slowly and unnoticed slid his jacket away from the holster, releasing the latch, which kept the gun in the holster at the same time. He didn't like it when the other was pointing a gun at Audrey, no matter if he was a criminal or not.

"You say she just came out of surgery? That's definitely going to make problems." The man first had a look at Jack, then at Audrey again.

Jack could tell from his facial expression that he had some sympathy for their situation. But he was fighting with the decision.

At the same time something else caught Jacks interest. As he looked past his opponent he saw two others approaching from the back side.

The closer they came, the better he could guess they were all aiming for the exact same thing- their car.

Right as one of them pulled out his gun, Jack did so, too. "Get down!", he yelled and fired at them. One of them was hit in his arm and the chest, the other in the shoulder. They both fell to the ground as the man who had threatened Jack and Audrey before was even too stunned to realize what was going on around them.

He stood there, petrified, staring at the bodies on the ground and at Jack who quickly laid Audrey's body at the ground and stood up.

"Keep an eye on her.", Jack ordered him, as he went past the other, with his weapon drawn and pointing at the two men.

His own child had started to scream awfully upon the shots. But he was unable to move. Immovably he stood by Audrey's unconscious body, his weapon pointing somewhere on the ground in front of him. He was watching that man's back as he approached the two guys.

One of them was still alive and conscious, trying to reach for his gun again.

"Don't even try!", Jack shouted and fired a warning shot, at the ground, close to the position of that man. He came close and then kicked the other's gun away before he knelt down to him.

"I'll give you one chance now. Take it and run.", he hissed.

His opponent took that chance. Groaning he fought to get up again and yielded a few steps backwards.

"Run.", Jack ordered, firing another volley of shots before the man's feet.

He started to run.

Jack felt the pulse of the other one. He was dead.

Jack stood up again, taking both their guns with him. Slowly he went back to Audrey. He turned around frequently to see if that man was still running away from them, but as the other was 200 yards away he was sure that he wouldn't come back any time soon.

Jack holstered his gun again, checked on the magazines of the weapons which he had taken from these two men and put one of them in his bag. The other one he presented to the man who was still standing next to Audrey. "Here, take it. You're going to need a backup.", he mentioned, while he knelt down next to Audrey again.

Softly he took her shoulders and lifted her chest a little bit, to rest her back at his legs. He looked up, directly in to the other's eyes. That man was staring at him, with disbelieve. "What would you have done, if they had come any closer?", Jack silently asked him. He could read the other's thoughts like a book. That man was far too wimpy to ever pull the trigger of that gun.

The other also knew that. He knew that he would have been afraid to really aim his weapon at somebody else and pull the trigger. Probably this stranger had just saved all their lives. He put away his gun and nodded towards their car. "Get in at the back.", he simply said and went back.

Jack was deeply relieved as he carried Audrey over to the car. They had a chance again now.


	5. Escape

Escape Friday, 22:13 pm LT, Bakersfield

Jack and Audrey crouched on the backseats. He was sitting on the far right side to leave the rest of the backseats for her to lie down. Her back leant against his chest and he held her tight to his body. Since she had gotten some rest here at the backseats he felt that her pain must have worn off and she was beginning to wake up.

"Audrey?", he silently whispered into her ear.

She flipped her eyes open at once and was staring at him.

Softly he smiled at her. "How are you feeling?", he asked.

She reconsidered for a moment before she gave him an answer. "I'm fine… as long as I don't have to move."

"It's alright, you don't have to move. We're on our way out of the city now.", Jack told her.

Audrey looked around in the car as she spotted the family on the front seats.

"These are Ben, Melissa and their son Jonas. They agreed to give us a lift.", he told her.

Audrey silently nodded and leant back against his chest. She wasn't having any severe pain at the moment but she didn't feel good either.

Jack turned around to her and sat cross to support her better. He put one of his hands at her upper stomach and held her.

Audrey could still not believe it. She felt his arm around her, she felt his soft touch and even heard his breath - for the first time in over four years. "Jack….", she asked.

He looked down at her. "What's up, sweetheart?"

_Damnit,_ he thought, as he reconsidered that he had called her sweetheart. Had it been for the sake of their cover as couple? No, he admitted to himself, that it had come out of a pure habit. It felt so naturally to have her in his arms that for a short moment, he had almost forgotten the past four years.

But Audrey simply smiled as she heard it. "Why… are you… here now?", she hesitatingly asked.

Jack had already guessed she would ask that question some time. But he had not thought about an answer yet. "We'll talk when we're alone, ok?", he very silently said.

She had another look at Ben and Melissa and then nodded her head yes. Then she simply laid back and closed her eyes.

Jack concentrated on the street once more. Ben had needed to drive a bit north again because all the routes due south were closed by crashes, jammed or the riots were so heavy that it was impossible to get through.

He was glad that Audrey had her eyes closed again and didn't need to see what was going on outside. Dead bodies lay on both sides of the street. Twice somebody had wanted to stop their car, but both times Jack had ordered Ben to go faster, no matter if he would run over them or not. There was no other choice in this situation.

Most of the newer cars weren't working due to the EMP effect of that bomb. People were helpless.

Ben stopped at an abandoned crossroads and turned around to Jack. "Which way? We can go west, to the coast, or if we turn right we're going to cross a part of the desert, direction Lancaster."

Jack bent backwards and looked at the clouds above them. They were drifting slightly southeast. "I think west is the only option we have at the moment…", he answered.

Ben did what he was told.

They drove on, past the huge amounts of crashed or broken down cars.

The center of the city was like a ghost town. Most of the windows had burst during the blast wave. Telephone masts had toppled down and were blocking the street from time to time. They had had to take some longer ways round the mess, which was considerably slowing them down.

From time to time Jack had a look at his wristwatch. It had turned dark long ago and was now close to 9 p.m. It could start to rain every minute. Since it had gotten dark the clouds weren't visible any more. All of the sky above them was dark black. No stars and no moon was visible. They went on silence.

About an hour later they were on the main westerly road. But the farther they drove the worse the riots around them got. Some were even coming the opposite direction, back to the city. The cars moving back were getting more and more.

"Something's not right over there.", Ben murmured and stopped at the street side. Some others, who had also been driving with them took over and continued into the direction where they could see some blinking light.

Jack took out his mmonocular an looked at that point at the horizon.

"What is this?", Ben asked. "Lightning?"

Jack shook his head no. "No Muzzle flames. There's a huge fight." From his position he could tell that some of the firing guns must be from a high caliber, if not real artillery. "We're not going to have a chance there.", he murmured. "Turn around, try another way."

Ben went right and tried to turn west again three crossroads later. They were on a rather small road, but still it seemed to lead them out of the city.

"Do you know where you're going?", Jack asked.

"Yeah, I do. I've been living in this city for all my life.", Ben answered. "This road leads to the back entrance of one of the large shopping malls on the outskirts. It hadn't been opened yet and that street leads to a dirt road they used to build it. The most people don't know."

Jack was relieved for a moment. If the most people didn't know about this road, it looked like a real option. Yet still he tensed, the further they came to the outskirts of the city. There was nobody in sight.

Ben drove through the gates of the huge building site of the new mall. They entered an area of dirt roads. Eventually Ben had told him that he had used to work on this building site before today.

They drove through huge piles of soil, sand and eventually made their way through the site.

"Stop here.", Jack ordered Ben, right before they would have left the enclosed site. "Turn of the lights."

As he did, Jack opened the door and gout out. "I'll be right back, Audrey.", he whispered into her ear.

Ben got out with him and followed Jack to a dump truck which was parked at the gates. Jack stood hiding behind the wheel and was watching the surroundings with his monocular. They were about a mile away from the westbound highway. Over there, a huge street fight was going on. Just like on the southbound main street, nobody could tell any more who had started it. By now anyone was fighting against anybody.

A massive freeway pileup had ceased any traffic to flow.

But one vehicle caught Jacks attention. It was a black SUV, standing about 300 yards west of the collision. The lights were dimmed to such a low level that he could almost not see it. A few men seemed to be standing by the car, they were armed.

"What are you seeing?", Ben asked as he saw Jack spotting a place in the darkness.

Jack passed the monocular on to him and let him have a look. "On the highway, 300 yards to the west of the crash.", he murmured and stepped back to let Ben get his position.

Ben also saw the SUV. "Looks like at least one survived that crash.", he remarked.

"I don't think they survived.", Jack cut in. "I rather tend to believe they caused that crash. Don't you see they are armed?"

Now Ben also saw it.

He jumped around, facing Jack. "What does that mean?", he asked with a shaky voice.

Jack couldn't tell for sure. "They're none of our people. Uniforms don't match. But it definitely looks to me that they are trying to stop us all from leaving." Jack took back the monocular.

"Why should they stop us from leaving?" Ben asked again.

Jack took a deep breath. His eyes has slowly adapted to the darkness, at least that much, that he could see Ben without having to switch on his torch. "Why d leave this town?", he asked, hoping that Ben would find the answer by himself.

"Fallout…", Ben tonelessly answered. He seemed to understand now. "They keep us here so we all die?"

Jack didn't answer because he didn't want to. "Have you seen anyone return from the roads to the east?", he asked.

Ben shook his head no.

"I think they are trying to block all other roads to lead anyone east. That's the zone where we expect the greatest fallout.", he silently answered.

Ben leant against the wheel of the dump truck and sighed heavily. He looked over to the car, where he saw his wife and his son, waiting in anticipation for him to come back. "What shall we do?", he silently asked Jack.

"We have to try and go west. I think in the long term, this is the only way out." Jack switched on his torch for a short moment to read the time on his watch. It was already past 10:30 p.m. "It could start to rain every minute. When this happens we have to be out of here or in a bunker. Otherwise we're most likely to be dead in a few days."

Ben nodded silently.

"How good do you know this area?", Jack asked him.

Ben shrugged. "Pretty good, I think. Why?"

"You'll have to drive without the lights on. Otherwise they'll spot us from a five miles range and we can't let that happen."

Ben understood. "Okay. That's going to work out if we go slowly enough."

Jack took another look at the black SUV but he couldn't find it any more. "Damnit, they're gone.", he swore. He searched the surroundings, but couldn't find the SUV again.

"Jack!", Ben grabbed Jacks arm, pulling him around. "Somebody's coming!", he said, gasping for air.

Jack now also saw the two headlights of a car, which was coming towards them at the building sites dirt roads. He started to run back to their car at once, pulling Ben with him. "Get in and drive. No lights!", he ordered and jumped in onto the back seats.

Audrey stared at him with disbelieve, as she saw him kneeling next to her, facing the rear window. He had drawn his weapon and aimed it at something in the distance. She didn't even dare to ask what it was as she saw that Ben started to race their car out of the place where they had parked before.

They went on a rather small dirt road. It was built to have space for one truck at a time. Every few hundred yards there was a side track.

"Go faster!", Jack roared at Ben, as the headlights of the other cars were rapidly approaching them.

"I can't!", Ben shouted and held on to the steering wheel with both hands.

Inevitably the headlights closed up on them. Jack tried to aim at the driver, but the road had far too many turns to let him take a precise aim. All he would achieve would be to make the driver of that car any more angry. He had seen their weapons and most definitely wanted to avoid getting into a fight with them.

They hadn't even gotten any more than 700 yards away when they had come so close that they took the first shot at their car.

Ben screamed out loud as the bullet shattered one of the side windows. He was unalert for a moment and missed a slight left turn in the darkness. Yet he tried to get the turn it only ended in letting their car skid.

There came another volley of shots from the men behind them. Some of the bullets missed, some hit the back and left side of their car again.

Jack already wanted to fire back, as the skidding threw him off balance. He was bounced against the column so heavily that he got dazed for a short moment.

Ben couldn't control it any more. The right front wheel got caught at the side strip and suddenly changed their direction of spin. With an incredible speed the car was thrown of the street. It turned over five times before it came to rest at it's rooftop.

Jack and Audrey were thrown around inside the car so heavily that they both lay unconsciously inside it.

The black SUV stopped at the roadside, were they had gone off the street. They stopped their vehicle and switched on the high beam to light the wreckage. Three of their men walked down into the ditch, fighting through the thicket, until reaching the crashed car.


	6. Rain

Rain Friday, 23:42 pm LT, Bakersfield

Jack regained consciousness before Audrey. He found himself lying face-down at the rooftop. His chest and his had were hurting tremendously. Feverishly he started to look around for Audrey, finding her lying to his left, unconscious. He couldn't move.

Ben's wife Melissa suddenly started to scream awfully.

Jack tried to turn around to see why, which cost him nearly all of his power. He shuddered as he saw why Melissa was crying so hysterically. Two of the bullets through the side windows had killed Ben and their son. She was holding the bleeding child in her arms and roared Bens name again and again.

That second he saw two pairs of boots on the outside. Jack already groped for his gun but he realized that he must have lost it during their crash.

Melissa finally also realized that they were not alone any more.

Jack saw too late that his gun had come to lie right in front of her.

_Don't take it,_ he prayed, _we're as good as dead. They have no reason to harm us any more if we stay silent._

But she simply couldn't do that. Melissa grabbed the gun and aimed it at one of the men who had appeared in front of the windows.

Faster than she had aimed it at them a volley of shots came inside, killing her.

Jack closed his eyes and didn't move a muscle. Tensely he lay there, pretending to be unconscious or dead. He still heard the voices of the men on the outside. They were talking English, then again a strange foreign language which he didn't understand.

They circled the car and Jack could tell from their voices that they were discussing whether to be sure of killing them all or not.

He lay there, praying that Audrey wouldn't wake up and wouldn't do anything stupid like Melissa. But she didn't wake up.

One second this made him glad, then again the bad feeling crept up his spine that she could probably wake up never again. Had she gotten badly hurt in their crash?

He opened one of his eyes and tried to get a glimpse of her. It was hard to see anything. Only sometimes the cone of light of one of their torches touched Audrey's face. He couldn't tell how she was.

Finally he felt the cone of light resting at his own back. The man said something.

Jack tensed even more. He still wore the bulletproof vest. If the caliber of that man's gun wouldn't be too big he'd most likely survive getting shot at.

The third one of them went around the car and joined them. "It's starting to rain, let's go.", he commanded. One of the others replied something in that foreign language.

"No, let's go.", their leader replied again. "They're as good as dead. Let's not waste our time."

Jack felt how the cone of light moved away. The breath which he had held he let out now. It had started to rain, they had said. He felt his heart sink. At the same time the pain from his chest and his head fully set in. He waited and waited, until he finally heard the engine of their car being started and heard them driving off.

That was the first moment when he dared to move again.

He sat up and then crawled over to Audrey.

Hesitatingly he felt her pulse. _Be okay,_ he prayed – thank god she was.

Jack tried to open the right back door, but it wouldn't work out, not even if he slammed his feet against it at full force. The only chance of getting out would be one of the broken side windows.

He kicked against the rest of the glass to break their way open, before he carefully took Audrey and dragged her along with him.

He stopped for a moment and looked at Ben, Melissa and their boy. There was nothing he could have done, he said to himself, but some part of him still wouldn't let him accept that he had just laid there and let them die right before his eyes.

Hesitatingly he took his gun out of Melissa's dead hand. He knew already that he wouldn't get that picture out of his head so easily.

Jack crawled out of the car first, and then pulled Audrey out, too.

The others had been right. It had started to rain in the meantime. Not heavily, more like a drizzle.

Jack held Audrey in his arms once more and examined her body. She had knocked her head and had a small laceration on her right temple. But he could find nothing else. "Audrey?", he called her name once. She showed no reaction.

Despite his own pain he lifted her up and started to walk. He could feel the first rain drops on his neck. He told himself to go faster, but he couldn't move any faster since they were walking through the pathless terrain of the ditch. He knew that he couldn't just go back to the road because that was the most likely place where these people would come back.

Audrey's body hung lifelessly over his right shoulder.

Jack felt, how with any passing minute the rain intensified. It was hard to guess how far away from the blast site they were and how much radiation would be in the rain. Maybe their radiation dose had already been lethal, maybe they hadn't suffered any damage- he didn't know. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had to go back to find cover in any of these buildings.

Jack looked up once more. He saw the outlines of the huge mall building. It was only a few hundred yards away. _Keep going,_ he ordered himself, but it was getting harder and harder.

Since he didn't see anything in the darkness every step was hard to take. They were moving on a sandy ground. Only from time to time there were some stones lying in their way. The terrain was slightly rising towards the building.

After having passed half of the way, Jack stumbled over a fallen tree which lay there. He and Audrey crashed on the ground, leaving him coughing hard because of all the whirled up sand.

He felt the rain intensifying even more.

He felt the sharp pain in his right side which made breathing hard and also the pain inside his head which made it hard to keep his eyes open and to focus on their way.

As he lay there he felt like lying there would be the only thing that made sense. He couldn't move any further. He had been on his feet for the last two days in a row without any sleep. It was enough now.

Audrey slightly moved.

Jack turned and looked at her. Her face lay right next to his.

He was like in a delirium when he rose his hand to stroke over her cheek. It was already a bit wet from the rain.

Seeing her brought back his will to fight. _This can't be happening, _was the only though that shot through his head, _get her out of this._

Once more he pulled himself together to get to his feet. He grabbed Audrey and more dragged than carried her with him.

Eventually he fought his way up the roadside and continued to walk on the dirt road. He was counting the steps back to that building. Every other step hurt more. Audrey's body felt heavier every other second.

The rain drops got bigger. He felt how the water soaked his shirt. His jacket he had already hung around Audrey's shoulders to protect her from the fallout.

It needed an eternity until they reached the back entrance of the new mall. The building was nearly finished. Jack saw a sign which lead to the entrance of an underground parking garage. That was the right place for them to be.

He stumbled into the building. Everything was so dark that he couldn't see one thing. They had to be standing on some kind of a ramp which lead down, underneath the building.

Jack leant against the wall and pulled the torch out of his bag. He looked around to find that the ramp even lead further down. They were already out of the rain, but he knew that they were not yet out of the radiation danger.

He stumbled down the ramp. Every twenty yards he had to stop for a moment and rest because he couldn't go on any further.

Eventually they reached the bottom level – 4th floor underground.

Jack looked around to find an empty but completely finished parking garage. He went over to one of the rooms which said 'personnel only'. It was what he had hoped it to be- the room of the supervisor of the garage.

The room was completely furnished and seemed to have been used by the construction workers as a restroom.

On one side, there were a lot of lockers and a little sink. In the middle stood a single table surrounded by four chairs. On the other side Jack found a couch where he put Audrey down.

He put the torch on the table and left it on while he sat down on the floor, beside the couch. Exhaustedly he leant back to lie down at the floor for a moment. He wasn't able to move any more. Each inch of his body hurt immensely and every breath stung in his lungs. He knew that he should take off his clothes and wash his hair to get rid of the rain. But he simply couldn't do that at the moment.

Exhaustedly he drifted from being awake to sleep.


	7. Night

Night Saturday, 00:31 am LT, Bakersfield

As Jack woke up again, he cursed at himself. He must have fallen asleep though he hadn't wanted to. After a look at his wristwatch he at least was glad that it hadn't been more than a few minutes.

Audrey lay at the couch, right next to him on the floor.

Trying not to wake her up – simply because he wouldn't know what to say or do with her right now – he grabbed the edge of the couch to stand up again. Their room was rather small and dimly lighted by the torch which he had not shut off as he had fallen asleep. It still lay at the only table in the room, barely lighting it.

He got up and grabbed the jacket from the floor where he had left it. He took it with him to the only door of their room and threw it outside. It was contaminated from the fallout rain, therefore he didn't want to keep it inside their room.

Actually, they would have both needed to take a shower, to wash off the toxic rain, but he didn't really have the power left to do that.

Instead, Jack took off the bulletproof vest and his shirt, soaked them both in the sink and briefly washed the fallout of his hair. Audrey had been covered by his jacket most of the time, so he simply let it be. As he was finished, he put the wet clothes on again and was happy that it was quite warm in this room.

He took the torch with him and went a few steps outside into the garage to explore the area around. There were a few technical rooms, power units for the elevators, a small server room which seemed to have been fried by the EMP. It all was looking so ghostly dark. Not one emergency exit lighting sign was working. Not one small lamp of any computer, sensor or whatever was burning. Not one single piece of equipment, power unit, engine, air conditioning or whatever made a noise. It was silent like spending a night in the wilderness, hundreds of miles away from the next populated area.

The only thing he heard from time to time had been shots from the still raging street fights. But since the rain had set in the fights had become less and less. It seemed that everyone was seeking cover for the coming night.

He took a deep breath before he went back to the couch. Audrey was still lying there and to him she was looking like a sleeping angel. She was the only good thing he could think of, in nearly a 100mile radius.

To his surprise she was awake.

He knelt down in front of the sofa and looked into her eyes, trying to show her a little smile despite everything. "Hey.", he softly murmured, "How long have you been awake?"

She shrugged. "I don't know… maybe a few minutes, since you turned on the water."

He nodded silently and leant against the couch. Actually, he was at a real loss for words.

Audrey watched him for a few moments. He was staring at some point on the ground in front of him, immovably. Carefully she stretched out her hand and touched his right arm with it. "You look exhausted, Jack.", she remarked.

He took a deep breath and turned to her. "Do I?", he asked, trying not to make that impression, but he could hardly conceal it. He decided not to argue about that. "How are you?"

She smiled as an answer. "Pretty ok… I think I'll be doing fine."

"I'm glad to hear."

After a short pause she looked around in the room again. "Where are we?"

"Underground, 4th floor, a parking garage."

She nodded, knowing that this was maybe the safest place they could imagine.

Jack turned to her. "What do you know about all this?", he asked her.

"They evacuated the hospital because of the electric failure. I heard some of them were talking about a nuclear terrorist attack. As I saw you, I suddenly knew they were right."

Jack had a look at the door and then he took a deep breath. It was so hard to tell her what had happened. He was himself at a loss of words when he thought of the recent attacks.

"Jack?", she asked. She could see his worried expression. "Jack, how did I get here? Where are Ben and Melissa?"

"Audrey, do you remember as we were driving… and stopped, and then went on again, racing away from someone following us?"

Now she could remember it.

"Ben and Melissa are dead. We were lucky we survived that crash.", he added. The fact that they had shot Melissa he didn't tell her. He could imagine, that she was frightened enough by the situation.

"What's really going on around here, Jack?", she silently asked.

He slowly turned around, facing her and took both her hands into his. "… there were several terrorist attacks. They took out the major distribution stations and relays all over the country. All of northern America has gone out of power, Audrey. And then they used the panic and ignited three of these bombs. We don't even know when or where they will hit next."

She starred at him, with blank horror in her eyes.

"They ignited three atomic bombs already. One of them just thirty miles from here, Audrey. Up there it's raining, you know what that means.", he silently said.

"My god", she breathed, and aimlessly started to look around. "Oh my god.", she still repeated, looked at him, her eyes torn widely open. "My god."

Hurriedly he approached her, to hug her. He laid his arms firmly around her. "Everything's going to be alright.", he whispered into her ear, as he heard that she was close to start crying. "Audrey. It's going to be alright. We're going to get away from here.", he comforted her, swayed her softly back and forth. "I promise."

Audrey was at a loss of words. She felt like fading. If she hadn't already been lying on the couch she would have collapsed. She freed herself from Jack's hug to look into his eyes. She saw his wet hair, she felt his wet shirt and suddenly knew that it meant they had already been exposed to the fallout. "Is it… already too late…?", she stammered.

"No.", Jack answered firmly. He didn't know it, but he couldn't speak anything else out loud.. "We only caught a few raindrops before we came here. That should be no great deal Look, we have to leave this town. These clouds are going east, so we have a good chance of getting back to the coast, unharmed. If everything stayed the way it is, the next army checkpoint is only about 100 miles away. We'll be there tomorrow evening."

"Okay." Audrey nodded. "How can you be so sure about this?", she hesitatingly asked.

He sighed. He was not sure at all about it- if they had already consumed a lethal radiation dose, if they had a chance of getting out of here, if the army checkpoint was still there. "I'm sure about this. Trust me.", he answered.

Audrey leant back again. She stared at the ceiling.

"Are you…. Okay…?", Jack hesitatingly asked. He already knew how pathetic this question was, given their circumstances.

She bitterly laughed. "Yes… I think so.", she answered and smirked at him. "As far as I could be."

Jack knew what she meant. He softly smiled at her and took her hands firmly into his once more. "I'll get you out of here, I promise.", he silently said.

Audrey felt an unstoppable wave of feelings suddenly rushing through her body. A warm feeling, just like a wave of adrenaline, started in her abdomen, went up to her chest and then back down again, leaving butterflies in her stomach. She closed her eyes for a moment but in her mind she could still see him, kneeling in front of her. She opened her eyes for a short moment, to get sure this was no dream. It wasn't. He was right there. Again she closed her eyes, and she had to admit that she was extremely tired.

Jack saw her yawning.

"Try to get some sleep.", he murmured. On top of the shelves to their right side he had spotted an old blanket. He stood up and got it down from there. Carefully he placed it over Audrey. It was old and dirty but still better than freezing.

"Jack?", she asked.

"Yes?" He stood protectively over her.

"Can you… possibly leave the light on?", she hesitatingly asked.

Jack had a short look at their torch. He had already seen that the light was getting darker. The battery wasn't at it's best any more- yet it still was their only light for the coming night and the next morning.

But he couldn't say no to her. "I'll leave it on.", he silently answered, seeing her smile upon that. "And I'll be around, too.", he added, "Good night, Audrey."

She smiled a _thank you_ for him and then closed her eyes to sleep.

Jack slowly took his gun out of his bag and went over to the only door in the room, opening it for a little gap.

Then he sat down and positioned himself in front of the gap, for that he would always have a look outside if somebody was coming.

He knew exactly why she had asked him to leave the light on. The darkness had been one of their worst enemies in China. There hadn't been a single ray of light in some days in his cell.

Jack leant against the wall and glanced over to Audrey. He could only imagine how they must have treated her. If it had been some kind of similar to the cell where he had been, then he could imagine that she must also have gone through an endless series of days in which they had taken away any light, any food and any warmth at the same time.

He hadn't been able to say any more if minutes, hours or days had passed. Since his cell had been so close to their interrogation room, the silence had been cut by the screams of other people who they had interrogated.

Jack didn't even want to imagine what they had done to Audrey. It made him sad and angry at the same time.

He turned back to the look outside the door. The gun lay ready in his hands. He was on the look out if anybody else had had the idea of seeking cover in this parking garage.

But he waited hours and hours, yet still nobody came.


	8. Awake

Awake Saturday, 03:54 am LT, Bakersfield

Audrey woke up in the middle of the night. She found herself lying on a couch, a blanket covered her body, it had been put over her to keep her warm. How in the world had she ended up here, she kept asking herself for a few moments, before she remembered.

She didn't move an inch, but had a look around. The room was dimly lit by a single torch which lay at the near table.

Then she suddenly froze.

A man sat at the floor, right at the door, leant his back against the wall and held a gun in his hands.

She couldn't believe that she was really here with Jack.

His face looked different from what she remembered of him. He had grown older, mature. His blonde hair was disheveled like every time he ran his hands through it. The look in his eyes was different. Pain. Fear. Exhaustion. She couldn't tell which it was exactly.

Slowly she sat up.

Jack realized that she had moved only when she climbed off the couch.

Silently she went over to him.

Jack fought to stand up, but every move was hard to make, he was so tired. He grabbed the handle of the door to pull himself up, but Audrey laid her hands on his shoulders, pushing him softly back down.

"Stay.", she murmured and knelt down in front of him.

For an endless long moment they had a look in each other's eyes.

"How are you?", Jack finally asked her, pointing at the bandage around her stomach, which was now hidden beneath the large sweater she was wearing. "We should really take a look at that, very soon."

"I'm okay.", she whispered. "I'm really okay. How about you?"

"I'm okay if you are.", he answered and tried to smile.

But she remembered more. "Jack, I saw how you got shot before I passed out.", she murmured.

"It's okay, it hit my vest.", he lied. At least one of the bullets must have hit his left shoulder. He had felt that blood had soaked the inside of his bullet proof vest after their fight. But somewhere on the way here the bleeding had stopped.

Audrey didn't let loose. "Liar.", she remarked and moved closer. "Let me see it."

"No. There's nothing to see."

She laid her hand at his left shoulder and gently squeezed it.

Jack tensed as the pain set in.

Audrey had a disapproving look at him. She was disappointed that he wouldn't let her help him.

Jack put the gun aside, which he had held in front of him, almost as a shield. "It wouldn't make any difference, Audrey.", he silently said and took her right hand his, away from his shoulder. "We don't have anything here to dress a wound, anyway."

She didn't miss the golden marriage ring he wore, as it shimmered in the dim light. She didn't ask.

"I can't just let you sit here.", she remarked. But as she reviewed the options which they had, there was really not much which they could do now.

"At least come over to the couch, instead of sitting here on the floor.", she offered him.

Jack wasn't so sure, if this was a good idea. "I don't want to…" _lie there, next to you, though I'm not allowed to touch you,_ he would have continued, but she silenced him by lying one finger at his lips. "Come on", she silently spoke, helped him to stand up, as well as she could do that by herself.

At first he resisted, but then he gladly took her help. He was in no shape to argue with her. All the power he had still left he would need to watch over them for this night and the following day.

Everything seemed to be silent on the outside. The town was a ghost city by now. It seemed to hi like he and Audrey were the only ones left.

Slowly he bent down once more to pick up the gun and also took his bag with him, which he had put at the floor next to him.

He laid the weapons down on the near table, to keep them always in reach.

As he sat down on the couch he had to admit that the view had been better from his previous place. But he appreciated the comfortable place at the couch.

Audrey sat down at the other side of the couch. She sat there, immovably, and watched him in the dark.

The weak light only let her see a silhouette. He still wore that bulletproof vest over his black shirt.

With slow moves he put a pillow aside to lean back.

"Won't you lie down with me?", Audrey asked.

He shook his head. "I've got to keep awake. Just in case."

_That's ridiculous,_ Audrey already wanted to say, but she accepted it.

Instead she took his pillow and laid down next to him, a bit of space separating their bodies. "What's happening, Jack? Do you really think we're going to get out of here?", she silently murmured.

Jack sighed. "Don't worry. We will. But we have to wait until tomorrow afternoon before we go on, okay?", he answered. "It's too dangerous to go out now."

She nodded her head silently.

Then he broke his own rule, which he had defined just hours ago, not to touch her. Softly he laid his hand down at her shoulder. It felt so good to touch her, to stroke over her body… From his view he could tell that she was craving for this. Audrey slid a little bit closer to him. Maybe not out of love or desire but for the simple reason to feel that she was not facing this all alone.

As Jack viewed her, lying so peacefully next to him, he had to swallow hard. It was almost impossible to hide his feelings for her, though he still wasn't sure, if they came out of love or the fear of losing her again once this all would be over.

For hours they stayed like this, Audrey sleeping, and he caressing her shoulder, her neck and her hair in the most affectionate way.


	9. Fight

Fight Saturday, 04:02 pm LT, Bakersfield

Their ride was very silent.

Audrey sat in front this time, silently watching their surroundings.

They had waited ten long hours in the underground parking garage, after the rain had stopped. Then Jack had gone upstairs to have a look if they could find anything useful in this shopping mall.

It was only an empty shell of a building, but the first floor of the parking garage there had been a broken down police car, a dead officer still sitting in the front passenger seat. They had taken a rifle and shotgun out of it and all the ammo they could carry. Then Jack had strolled through the building site, to look for a car for them.

Audrey had stayed in the building. Though he had told her to keep away from the windows, she couldn't. She was following his every move, tracking him with her eyes. The longer she watched him, the more fascinated she got. He wore the policeman's jacket, they had also found it on the backseats of the car. Finally he had found an old but well running jeep at the building site.

Jack tried to keep away from the larger streets, since there was a civil war all around them. Every town they had driven through was either a ghost town, or armed civilians were running around, protecting the little bit of property they had left. They still hadn't come very far.

Jack and Audrey also had their weapons at reach. They kept away from the large streets and went through small country roads. Now and then they saw burned out cars on their way. The people who these cars had belonged to were long gone.

"Oh my god.", Audrey breathed as they went past another one. The driver was still in there – at least what was left of him, a burned corpse.

Jack went slowly and also had a look at it. Something bothered him, at the moment he saw that scene. "We have to get off the street, Audrey.", he firmly said, pulled off at the next chance and went along a dirt road which lead right into the nearest forest.

"Jack, what's going on?", she asked, with blank horror on her face. "Would you please tell me?"

"Something's not right.", he remarked. He even drove off the dirt road and hid their pickup in the undergrowth. "This car has burned down, all the people were left inside. There is no sign of a robbery, there is no other car they had crashed into. Tell me why."

She sat there, at a loss. "What are going to do now?"

"I'll just have a look. I'll be right back."

"Jack!", Audrey protested, but he was already out of the car. Worriedly she turned around in her seat, trying to have a look out for him, but he had already disappeared into the undergrowth.

Jack fought his way back until the edge of the wood. He took out his monocular and aimed it at the burned out vehicle. Four persons had been inside. They hadn't moved an inch as the car burned down. As it happened, they had been driving right into the other direction. The windows had burst in the fire.

Why in all the world would a whole family stay seated in their car when it went on fire? Why would a car simply catch fire, when driving alone at the street? Couldn't be.

Another car appeared, at the horizon. It had come out of the same direction like he and Audrey. A black SUV, dark windows. They stopped right at the burned down vehicle. A group of three men got out, all were armed with assault rifles.

Jack froze.

They surrounded the burned out car and checked the inside. Apparently, they were satisfied with what they saw. Their leader gave some commands to the others, which Jack tried to read. Area sweep, he figured. "

_Damnit,_ he silently cursed and silently, but quickly made his way back to the forest.

Audrey had already been waiting. As he approached the car, she got out and called his name out loud- he silenced her by pressing his hand against her mouth. "Ssssh, Audrey. Silent. They are here. They're sweeping the area. We have to get away from the car."

She didn't respond. Immovably she stood there and stared at him with big eyes.

"Audrey, please.", he begged. He could see the same catatonic view back on her face, like when they had come home from China. "I'll get you of here, I promise. Do you trust me?"

She nodded quickly, still not able to say a word.

Jack let go of her and shifted her a bit to the side, to get his bag out of the car, along with the two shotguns. "Are you ready to go?"

She murmured a quiet _yes._ Then they started to hurry through the undergrowth.

Jack didn't know which direction he should take. He didn't know when the forest would come to an end, didn't know how the terrain would continue. He had no GPS assistance, didn't even know so exactly where they were at all. It was only a guess of him, that it would be a good choice to run towards these heavy fallout clouds. They simply had to guess that they were on the run from them and would have taken the other direction.

"We have about fifteen minutes advance before they'll get here. Hurry.", Jack guided Audrey through the woods.

"Where do we go, Jack?", she asked again. "We can't run back to the city."

He took out his monocular and looked back. Now they had been climbing a small hill. They had a good view at the dirt road and their car from here.

Jack finally found the perfect place to execute his plan. A huge tree lay across their way, after having been felled by a lightning strike. "Hide behind.", Jack told Audrey, and helped her climb over the massive trunk. She moaned, as they finally arrived at the other side.

Hurriedly he slid over to her and helped her to lie down. "Are you alright?", he asked, already knowing how senseless these words were, as he had spoken them. Of course she would tell him she was alright, what else could she tell him?

"I'm alright, Jack.", she answered, grinding teeth.

She had gone out of surgery only a few days ago and he was demanding her to run his pace. If there had been any other choice, he would have gladly taken it. "Liar.", he said to her.

She softly smiled back. They had been at that point before. There was no sense in arguing. "What are you about to do?"

"We're creating an ambush. They will eventually come up here, looking for us. Then we'll take them out, one by one. Will you help me do that?"

"What do I have to do?"

Jack reached out for the shotgun and showed her how to use it, he also left one of the three guns at her place. "When I've started to fire, you have to start to fire as well. It doesn't really matter where. Don't get out of your cover, just shoot into their direction. I'll move to their flank and take them down."

Audrey took his gun into her hands.

Jack wondered how calm she was. Her hands weren't shaking. Her voice wasn't. Her catatonic view hadn't come back. It was when he remembered that he could always count on her when they got into any precarious position.

"I'll be back.", he whispered into her ear. Then he slid away to disappear once more into the undergrowth.

Audrey got a small glimpse on him, when he went out of his cover to place a few fake tracks, only thirty meters away from them. The trap must look real. Then she peeked down the hill, on the black SUV which had finally found it's way into the dirt road. They stopped when they found their car. It had been impossible to hide it better.

Five black clothed men got out of the SUV. Two went to the car, the other three secured the area.

Jack peeked out of his hideout with his monocular. He watched the two, how they opened up the doors of their car, one by one. Finally, one of them pulled off his gloves and touched the hood.

_Damnit, they are trained very well,_ Jack thought. The hood was warm, showing them that they had left the car only a few minutes ago. He watched them talking for a short moment. One was the leader. He gave the command to deploy.

He and two of his men came right into their direction.

Jack laid the barrel of his rifle down at a branch in front of him to support it. It was only a hunting rifle without any target optics on it. He would have to let that man come close and then take a precise aim.

The three of them strode up the hill.

He had only the advantage of being able to surprise them. The first shot already had to take their leader out, the second one another of them. Then he would have to move to another position and take out the third one. After this, his plan would depend on what the others were doing.

Their leader and the two others came closer. Jack was relieved that their leader went second. He put his gun down next to him, to take the second man out. He only had one shot with the rifle.

The first one went past Jack's position without noticing.

Jack took a deep breath and held it. Now it was time. He bent down and centered the iron sights on the head of their leader. But he was still moving. They had to stop until he could take a chance.

Now they came to the point where he had laid the false tracks.

They stopped. His plan had worked.

Jack aimed once more, precisely, and then took his shot. The dead body of the leader hadn't even reached the ground yet, as he already pulled out his gun and fired at one of the others.

Jack wasn't sure if he had hit him, but he had given up his hideout. As the third of them started to shoot back he had to start running. He jumped up right as Audrey started to fire a few shots into their direction.

Jack listened but he didn't hear anything of the third one. The covering fire had worked out.

He ran for his life. Somewhere on the way he charged the rifle again. He ran downhill, where he guessed the third man would expect him the least, laid down again and aimed the rifle at their enemy. The one had taken cover behind a tree to get out of Audrey's line of sight, but that way he had moved right before Jack's muzzle.

_Stay calm. You've only got one shot until cover is blown again,_ Jack reminded himself before he took his shot. He didn't miss.

The others were already coming uphill.

Jack ran back to Audrey, as fast as he could. At the body of their dead leader he took his assault rifle and the man's radio with him. He was breathing hard as he reached their place behind that trunk, where Audrey waited for him. "You… did… great.", he stammered between his breaths.

Audrey simply was so happy that he had come back unharmed, that she couldn't help to smile for a small moment.

"Are you ready to go on?", he asked. "We've got three minutes then the other two are here."

She nodded and then he already took both her shoulders and guided her along, with him. "Keep your head down. I don't want them to spot us leaving."

In the following two minutes, Jack and Audrey made their way of about 100 yards, down the hill. They continued along the edge of the woods.

Jack felt how hard it was for her to keep walking. He couldn't do this to her. He looked back once more, but these were still out of sight.

"Audrey, sit down here.", he silently said to her and helped her sit down. Then he took one of his guns out of his bag, checked if it was loaded. "Take this. I'll be right back."

"Jack…", she began, but he had already jumped to his feet and ran off.

Audrey took a deep breath. She sat there, alone, leaning against a tree which gave her at least a bit of cover.

She couldn't have been any more afraid.

But her greatest fear wasn't death. It was the fear that Jack could maybe not return.

She closed her eyes.

A few moments later she heard shots.

Audrey threw the gun away and covered her ears.

She stayed there, hoping this all wouldn't be happening.

As somebody touched her shoulder, she screamed loud and ripped her eyes open. Anxiously she stared at Jack, who knelt in front of her.

"It's okay, Audrey…", he tried to comfort her, with a voice that touched her so deep inside, that her anxious behavior almost instantly ceased.

"I'm sorry.", she apologized.

He simply leant forward and took her into his arms. "What for? It's okay.", he whispered into her ear, repeating it until she believed it.


	10. Doubt

_End of chapter now updated!_

* * *

Doubt Saturday, 06:20 pm LT, Bakersfield

Jack stood before the black SUV of these five men. He was leaning against the side of his and Audrey's jeep. The front passenger's door stood open. She was sitting there, right next to him.

"Do you really want to watch this?", he asked her.

"Absolutely.", she answered, looking at the black car. They had dragged the bodies of the dead soldiers there and had taken a few of their weapons. As they had searched them, they had even found a satellite phone. To their both surprise it was charged and working.

"They're not allowed to find out something's missing. Neither the phone nor the fuel.", he remarked.

"I know.", Audrey answered. She held the phone in her hands while Jack took out a lighter and went over to the other's car. They had drained the rest of the other's fuel to use it for their own car. A few gallons Jack had poured over their car and the dead bodies. He had opened one of the side windows and threw the burning lighter inside.

Soon the spilled diesel fuel and the clothes of these men caught fire.

He and Audrey stayed there and watched it burn for a few moments.

"That's weird.", Audrey remarked

"What's weird?"

"That they are still here. I mean… this place… is contaminated by the fallout all over. I know what they taught us in DOD, Jack. Even if we get out of here we're most likely already contaminated with a harmful radiation dose." She sighed.

Jack understood her every thought. He had had a strange feeling, too, all this time. Something was wrong in the picture. Audrey had dared to speak it out loud. "Go ahead.", he said to her.

"I don't have a clue, Jack. It was just a feeling."

He nodded, understandingly. "Let's get going. We'll discuss this on the way. They'll probably come here when they see the smoke." He got in and they started to travel again.

This time he took a road that lead straight south. West simply didn't seem to be such a good idea any more.

Dark clouds were still hanging over their heads, but they weren't the ones caused by that explosion. It was just a simple bad weather phase.

"Do we have a street map here?", Jack asked Audrey.

She opened the glove compartment and started to rummage through its contents. A few moments later she pulled an old street map out, reading the date. "1996… that's…", she took a deep breath and held it, "going to be funny."

Jack smiled at her black humor. "Let's see where this road leads to."

"We're heading southeast… towards Soda Lake and Taft… you could thereafter join highway 5 again." Audrey sighed and kept her finger at the map, at their actual position. "You know, the other one would have led us directly to San Luis."

Jack looked west again. Behind that little mountain ridge must somewhere be San Luis. He had never driven that road before. Actually he had only been to San Luis once in his life, during his time at CTU, for an on-site inspection of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. He hadn't liked the city back there, he remembered. Nina had been there with him….

He decided to focus on the street again. Today was not the day to get absorbed in strange memories.

But the thought about the nuclear power plant didn't really get out of his mind. What if…?

Jack stopped the car in the middle of the road. It didn't matter anyway, they were all alone out here.

"What is it?", Audrey asked him, concerned.

"You had that strange feeling to…", he began. "What if this was no nuclear attack?", he asked her.

She thought about it for a moment. "You said yourself that you saw a mushroom cloud rising. And there was an EMP."

"That's right, but any strong enough bomb could form such a cloud. An EMP can be triggered without a bomb… but" He let his thoughts wander even further. "What if that a clean fission bomb? Without that loads of fallout?"

Audrey leant back and thought about it, too. "I can't find any sense in that, jack. Not at all. If they really set off this bomb between Bakersfield and Fresno, what could they possible harm with it? They didn't take down the city, did they?"

"No, directly."

"Okay. But they would have taken both cities down if they were using a dirty bomb. We don't know that Jack, but that's the only thing that makes sense to me. Maybe it's that what they want."

He shook his head no. "They wouldn't have stayed then, Audrey. They didn't look suicidal. I can't get rid of the feeling that there's something else behind all this. Give me the map."

She handed him the old street map.

He began to measure distances and bearings.

"What are you looking for?", she curiously asked.

"As you mentioned San Luis before, the nuclear power plant came across my mind…", he murmured, ripped a less important page out of the booklet and used it to measure a straight line distance.

"Go on." Audrey peeked at the map.

"There are two rings around each American nuclear power plant. One at a distance of 25 miles, the other 75. On each ring there are 36 stations, measuring radioactivity. They're part of the safety net, early warning of radiation emissions."

Audrey got even more interested now. "Do they work without electrical power? Or were they even destroyed by the EMP?"

He shook his head no. "No, I think they should be working. They were analogue gauges the last time I saw them."

He kept working on the map, until he finally found the point he had been looking for. "Here's one. Sector 9. We could reach it within one hour if we want to."

Jack looked up from the map, into Audrey's eyes. His view was asking her, if she wanted to go along with this. "We don't have to.", he silently added.

She thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we don't like what we find.", she murmured.

Jack nodded. "Could be. But then at least we know it."

She looked at the point at the map. It was somewhere in the wilderness. "Promise me…", she hesitatingly said, "That you won't tell me…. If it's very bad.", she begged him.

He understood her fear. It was easier to run around in a world that was maybe a bit contaminated. But it was unbearable to run around in a place where one knew it was a death sentence to breathe the air and to touch anything.

"I promise, I won't tell you.", he softly answered.

She was satisfied. "Okay, then let's go."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chloe sat at her workstation and tried to restore at least some of the data they had lost during the blackout. But her mind was far, far away. Morris and their child were at home. She had still not had time to go back there. The last time she had phoned them had been before the blackout. In the meantime she got more and more worried about them. Another part of her mind was worrying about Jack. She had tried to call him but all the mobile networks were down. The last thing she knew was that he had been together with somebody of CTU Los Angeles. She had tried to call them, twice, but hadn't got through. Phone lines were reserved for national security matters.

She picked up her phone right away as it rang. "O Brian", she said.

"Mrs. O Brian, this is Secretary of Defense Heller.", the other voice said.

"Sir, what can I do for you?", she asked him. It was absolutely strange that he called her. He had never done that before.

"President Taylor informed me about the… pardon for Bauer, that you requested.", he began.

She didn't know what to reply on this, so she said nothing.

Heller was in the bunker, using a secure landline in one of the private offices. He made sure again that nobody was in the room, before he asked her, "Where is Bauer now?"

"I have no idea.", she answered, "The power blackout cut off our last call, yesterday. Actually I was going to ask you what the president did to him afterwards."

Heller was disillusioned. He had really hoped Bauer would have called Chloe for assistance already. He knew that she was the only one who he trusted.

What if he and Audrey hadn't managed to get out of Bakersfield- or even worse, what if Bauer hadn't even managed to get to her?

"Nothing. We didn't hear anything from him ever since. Call me if you hear anything.", he told her.

Chloe sighed, "Alright, Sir."

He hung up and leant back into the chair, drumming his fingers on the table. Another possibility came across his mind. Bauer had no reason to get back with Audrey. He might take her and just leave.

This idea was even worse to him than seeing Audrey dead. O Brian couldn't be trusted. She had helped Bauer too often before.

He took his phone again and called CTU Director Wellington.

"Mr. Secretary?", he answered.

Heller got to the point, straight up. "Did Mrs. O Brian have any contact with Bauer since yesterday?"

"No Sir. That can be ruled out."

"Thank you. Keep monitoring.", Heller answered, ended the call.

He sighed deeply as he put the receiver away. In the end, the calls had been senseless. Bauer hadn't reported back. They were either dead or even gone.

A wave of sadness came over him. Audrey was slipping away from him- again.


	11. Concrete

Concrete Saturday, 08:40 pm PST, Washington D.C.

The situation room in the bunker below the White House was crowded with people. Still it was very silent, as the Chief of Staff spoke again.

There were new numbers, new findings.

The power grid wouldn't get up again so quickly. But the even more devastating news were the expected losses from the bombings.

The areas around these places had been locked down by the military. Nobody was allowed to go into the zones where they expected the worst parts of fallout and radiation damage.

As a surprise, only a few people had come out of this parameter. It made the local authorities believe that the losses were even bigger than expected. The expected cloud of fallout was going to pass by Washington D.C. in the north. Meteorologist said they were lucky that the wind had changed in the last few hours.

President Taylor had thought about making an official statement, but they had let it be. Most of the broadcasting stations were down due to the power blackout – so were the receivers at people's homes.

Allyson Taylor settled in her chair. She wished they would finally end this everlasting list of possible casualties.

Yet still they were only predictions. Nobody seemed to know anything. Three major areas of their country had simply become blank areas on the map. They discussed how to supply the rest of the country with iodine tablets and what to do with possible thousands of contaminated people.

A rescue mission for these areas was completely ruled out. They couldn't afford to lose any more lives.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack passed the monocular on to Audrey, to let her also have a view at that grey building, somewhere in the woods. "That must be it."

She had a look at it, sighed. "Yeah. Definitely looks suitable."

A two floors high, concrete tower was build into the middle of the wood. Its base was built completely round, with a diameter of approximately twenty yards. There was no entrance door, it stood open.

On the top level it had openings in the concrete, but no windows inside. He guessed that might be the room for the radioactivity measurement.

Jack had another look at the road map. The road which they were at didn't lead there. It went straight ahead and then down the little hill again, to leave the forest in a few hundred yards. "We shouldn't have taken the last left turn…", he murmured, and with his finger he followed the other street on the map. "Then we would have come right to that building."

"Do you want to drive back?", Audrey asked.

He shook his head. "No, not really. That's not more than five hundred yards away. I rather take a walk over there before we lose the way again."

He grabbed his bag from the back seats. "Can I leave you here for a few minutes?"

"Listen, if anything…"

"No, Jack.", she interrupted him. "Just go over there, have a look and come. There's nothing that can go wrong.", she calmed him down.

He had a look at the building in the wilderness. Maybe he was really a bit overcautious or over sensitive. "You're right.", he finally answered. "I'll be right back."

Audrey watched him leave.

Actually, this part of the forest was beautiful. Firs and broad-leafed trees alternated with little clearings, which overgrown with bright green bushes. The ground below was covered mostly by fallen needles or leaves.

If the circumstances hadn't been so bad, she would have appreciated the view.

He had probably gone half of the way, as he was only a little black spot in the wood any more. She had to take a close look to still track him with her eyes.

But finally, she saw how he reached the building, climbed over the small concrete fence around it and went into the main entrance.

She leant back and let the minutes go by, hoping he would return very soon, with some good news for a change.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack slowly went up the stairs inside that concrete building. After entering through the main door he had found himself again in a stairwell, reaching up to the first floor. He had drawn his weapon- in case anyone or anything would be waiting for him up there.

But that building really was empty. It was basically in a bad state. The years in the wilderness had left its trace at the concrete walls. They were mossy or wet or even worse – disintegrating.

On the first floor he found two rooms, both doors were open and had no windows. Probably they had been used to store some equipment, in times when more equipment had been needed to transfer a simply radiation measurement value to the next city.

A pair of fresh looking cables went past him.

Jack followed the cables. They looked rather new and came through a hole in the bottom of that storage room, went up the wall and disappeared in another hole, leading to the second floor.

His hope grew bigger again, that this building was the right one.

He went upstairs to find another, locked door. On its front there were a few warning signs – _keep out – _they said.

He wiped the dirt off from one of these signs and found the logo of PG&E – Pacific Gas and Electric. They also owned Diablo Canyon. There was no doubt any more that this was the right building.

He stepped back, took a short run and kicked in the door.

He stepped through it and found himself on some kind of a balcony. It was a large room, surrounded by window outlets, without any window panes.

A cold wind streamed through the building.

Jack went along the round walls and found another row of steps which led to an even higher place.

On top of there was a little pedestal and on it a long glass tube. It's top was perforated to let in fresh air.

He knelt down in front of it and had a look. An old looking gauge was placed in the middle of the glass tube. The indicator stood at the far left end of the scale, indicating 0.

He took a minute and examined the equipment once more. Was it indicating 'zero' because there was no radiation or because it didn't work without electrical power? He was at a loss and had to admit he hadn't really learned anything with his trip here.

He already wanted to stand up as he heard the noise of an approaching car. _Audrey,_ he thought at the first moment, but as he went downstairs to look out of one of the windows he saw that it was a black SUV.


	12. Confirmation

Confirmation Saturday, 08:40 pm PST, Washington D.C.

Two men entered the building. They were carrying a large black box with them.

Jack peeked through an open gap of the door. The crate was large and most likely very heavy. They were having some effort carrying it.

At least they didn't care if anybody else was in the building. He could see from his position that they were wearing bulletproof vests and carrying guns, but they weren't drawn.

Jack settled back to the floor, behind the door. He tried to control his breathing, not to make a sound. It was damn hard.

Outside the door he heard the footsteps of these men as they went up to the second floor. They said something in a foreign language as they found the broken lock at the door to the second floor.

Jack clasped the handle of his gun faster. If he went out now and there were others waiting at their car… he wouldn't have pretty much of a chance against them.

For a short moment he closed his eyes and listened. One floor higher he heard the footsteps of these men. But he didn't hear anything from outside.

Jack prayed for no others to be there.

Audrey came across his mind. Hopefully they hadn't spotted her or the car.

He stood up and had a look into the staircase. Nobody there.

Jack dared to step outside this room and went downstairs. He had his gun drawn.

Before reaching the front entrance he stopped and listened again. He heard no tone on the outside. Maybe these two were really alone.

He dared to take a look outside. The car was parked right at the entrance. Nobody in sight.

Jack slipped outside but kept leaning his back against the concrete walls of the building. He slowly went around it to have a look into the direction where Audrey and their car were.

As he had looked back when he had come here he had seen the car. Now there was no sign of it any more. A cold shower ran down his back. He was fighting a sudden feeling of panic.

Something had moved inside the house. He heard noises and hid a few yards away from the entrance.

A few moments later the two guys came out. They didn't even care to look around, since they were sure that nobody else was here.

Without doing anything else they simply boarded their car and drove off.

Jack watched them turn left at the next crossroads. They weren't going to Audrey. They were going back to where they came from.

Hurriedly he ran into the building again, up the stairs. He kicked the door to the second floor open again and rushed over to the Geiger tube.

They had shattered the glass on its and had filled sand into the housing. Not much, only to cover the lowest few millimeters.

He read the indication again – this time the needle stood somewhere on the right side, indicating a dose of 500bq now.

Jack stepped back. He took a last view at the sand at the bottom of the device and then he saw why they had carried such a heavy box up there- it stood open, next to him, he realized that it had a hull made of lead to transport radioactive material.

He started to run, left the building and made his way back through the wood, to the place where he had left Audrey.

As he finally reached the road he saw their car, two hundred yards to his right. She leant against the side of the car, waiting.

As she saw him, she gladly put the gun that he had given her away.

Jack hurried over to her.

On the last few yards she came towards him, until she could put her arms around his neck. "Thank god you're okay.", she whispered into his ear, close to tears, "I was so worried about you when I saw them."

He returned her hug. "It's alright, they didn't even notice I was there. You should've seen me freak out when I saw you and the car were gone."

"Sorry…", she stammered, "I… I just let it roll down the slope to be out of their sight." After a sob she added, "We were really lucky."

"You did great.", he comforted her. "Get in, I have to tell you the news now."

"Okay." Audrey sniffed. She let go of him and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

Jack hesitatingly put his gun back into the holster at his belt and then brushed his thumb softly over her left cheek. He leant forward until his mouth was right next to her ear. "We'll get out of here.", he tonelessly whispered. "Unharmed", he added.

He turned his head and looked into her eyes.

She did so, too.

As she saw that smile on his face she suddenly knew everything was alright. They hadn't suffered any lethal radiation dose. "And the..?"

He slightly shook his head. "Not nuclear.", he answered to the question she hadn't even asked. The smile on his face grew.

Audrey couldn't help smiling, too. She was so relieved that she couldn't have expressed it with any words.

"Come on, get in. I'll tell you on the way.", he said and helped her into the car again.

As he started the engine Audrey had regained a bit of her composure. "Where are we going now?", she asked.

He took the street map to have a look at it. To their south there was a little village, twenty miles away. "There" Jack pointed his finger on that place.

They hit the road once again.

"As I came there", Jack began to report, "The gauge read zero. That all was not a nuclear attack, they just wanted to make us believe it was one."

"Why?", Audrey replied, "That doesn't make any sense to me."

He shrugged. "Who knows. I fear they are planning something even worse."

"And why were they here now?"

He sneered. "To fake the readout. They put a handful of radioactive material right beneath the Geiger tube. Afterwards the gauge had a horribly high readout. When the grid gets back up this station will report this awfully high radioactivity and our government won't even consider to attempt a rescue mission."

Audrey leant back and thought about his words. "That's… a good plan… actually.", she had to admit. Then she turned to him. "We're the only ones who know this, Jack. We have to tell somebody."

He nodded his head yes. "Give me satellite phone."

She fetched the phone from the back seat and passed it on to Jack. "Here."

He had taken his own mobile phone out of his pocket and passed it on to her. "Can you spell me that number?"

"1 315 555 2407", Audrey read aloud, "Who is this?"

"Chloe.", he answered, but he hesitated with making the call.

"What are you waiting for?", she asked.

He sighed. "They're most likely listening to that conversation.", he remarked, "and I'll have to make it short. Any longer than a few seconds could possibly give away our position." At the next crossroads he went right again, along the edge of the woods. He avoided to drive through open fields.

Finally, he had made up the right words to tell Chloe on the unsecure line.

She picked up the phone after the second ring.

Before she could say one word he cut her off. "Listen, let's make this short. Tell Hawkeye I've got his girl. But there was no little boy." He hung up before she could reply anything.

"That'll get them thinking.", Jack said as he passed the phone back to Audrey.

She stared at him with wide eyes. "Don't you think that was a little too cryptic? Will they ever understand what you were trying to tell them?"

He kept looking at the street, but nodded his head yes, a smile on his lips. "I know Chloe. She'll find it out. But let's give her another hint. We'll write her a message."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chloe stared at her screen with an annoyed expression. She played the automatic recording of their call for a third and fourth time. Without doubt, this was Jack's voice.

She had no clue what he was telling her.


	13. Encryption

Encryption Saturday, 09:44 pm PST, New York

Chloe was satisfied with the results of her database search for the word Hawkeye.

The program had spat out a list of possible meanings. Among these were two NATO codenames for missiles, one military helicopter type, the USCIS code for a border station to Canada and the Secret Service codename for James Heller.

He had received that codename during his attempt to run for the presidency. Secret Service had given codenames to all presidents and potential candidates ever since 2003.

She grabbed her phone and dialed his number right away.

"Mrs. O Brian, anything new?", he answered her call. He was on the lower floor of the presidential bunker. Heller pushed a door to his left open and found an unused storage room which he could use to make that phone call in privacy.

"Actually, yes. I just received a rather strange call from Jack, with a message for you.", she said.

"Go ahead."

"He said he's got the girl but there was no little boy.", Chloe continued. "Can you make any sense out of that?"

_He's got the girl, _shot through Heller's mind. _He has Audrey._ But he didn't want to tell Chloe anything else about it. This was not a matter of national security. "No, can't make any sense out of that.", he replied.

"Strange.", Chloe said. "I could have sworn he meant Audrey."

Heller sighed. "And what about the little boy?"

"That's what I couldn't make any sense of. Does she have a son in the meantime? Or is it her brother?"

"No, can't be. Her brother is far away, he's in Europe.", he said.

Chloe continued. "There's one more thing. He also sent me a message. It reads DCNPP Sector 9 75 read zero. Can you make any sense out of that?"

"No.", Heller answered. He could really not make sense of this message.

"Do you know where he is? If only… approximately?", she urged him again. Chloe didn't let loose. He knew something that could help her decipher this message, she was sure about that. Otherwise Jack wouldn't have mentioned him in it.

Heller stood in the dim light, wondering if he should tell her about where Jack was. "Mrs. O Brian, Mr. Bauer was…", he started, but hesitated.

"Where was he?", Chloe urged again.

"He was somewhere in the vicinity of Bakersfield.", Heller began.

Her eyes widened upon hearing that news. That was a radioactively contaminated area. If Jack had been there it could easily be that he… Chloe didn't even want to think that far. "Why did he go to Bakersfield? Did you send him there?"

"Audrey was there.", Heller answered. He hoped Chloe would understand without any further discussion.

She did, saying nothing for a time. It had been years since she had seen Audrey. The last time she had seen her, Audrey had been in real bad state. "Did she ever… recover?", she hesitantly asked him.

"Yes, she did.", Heller silently answered. Of what use was that now? Prognoses said she wouldn't have a very long life expectancy, even if she returned.

"Sir… does this second message make any sense to you?", Chloe finally asked him again.

"Read it again, please."

"It said _DCNPP Sector 9_ space _75 reads zero_."

Heller thought about it for a minute. "No.", he finally answered. "I must say that I can absolutely make no sense of that."

Chloe was disillusioned for the moment. "Alright, Sir. Thanks for your time."

He kept her from ending the call- "Mrs. O Brian", he hurriedly said.

"Yes Sir?"

"Will you please keep me informed when they call you again?", he asked her.

"Of course, Sir. I will." As she hung up she could nearly understand him. A thought about her own boy came across her mind and lasted, even as she turned back to her screen to work on the message again.

She hoped to see him again soon.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Right as it got dark Jack finally found what he had been looking for. It was a small viller, consisting of only four houses. Each one of them was abandoned.

On one side of the viller was the edge of the forest, on the other side one had a beautiful view over the wide, flat terrain to the east.

He had picked of the houses, which had a parking garage right next to the main building, had broken the lock and had put the car into the garage. By now, he had to admit, that he was really tired and worn out. The last days had been exhausting, and the last two nights not really restful. The last time he had had something to eat had been on the flight to L.A.

Audrey wasn't feeling so much better.

He happened to notice that the surgery wound was giving her more and more trouble. Most likely the medication which they had given her at the hospital – to kill the pain – was wearing off.

He helped her to get out of the car and to get into the house.

The garage was directly joined to the house. As they stepped through the door they stood in a narrow corridor. The last minutes of dusk opened a view at walls, decorated with nice family pictures, children's drawings, nicely decorated wardrobes. This house was abandoned, but one could see, it hadn't been for a very long time.

As they went through the corridor, searching for the living room, Audrey couldn't help looking at all these pictures. A family with two children had been living here. They were probably about ten years old.

She wondered where this family was right now. Had they made it out of this area alive? Had they crashed their car, gotten into one of these civil war-like fights? Or were they even the ones who they had found in this burned out car, some hours ago?

Jack helped her lie down at the couch and covered her legs with a blanket. Since the heating system wasn't working the nights were unpleasantly chilly.

"Try to get some rest.", he silently said to her, "I'll have a look if they have left something to eat here."

She nodded her head yes, eyes already half closed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chloe sat in front of an endless list again, filtering the possible acronyms for DCNPP. She had ruled out everything that was outside a parameter of more than 200 miles around Bakersfield and Los Angeles.

One of the acronyms engaged her interest- it had landed at her list because of the word 'nuclear'. Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. Was Jack there? Unlikely. He would have called her, using the secure lines at the power plant.

But as she looked over the rest of possible meanings, the power plant stayed the only suitable one.

She stood up, took her tablet with her and went over to Wellington's office.

He looked up from his table, not really happy to see her. "Mrs. O Brian?"

"I need you to authorize a channel to Diablo Canyon for me.", she announced, placing her discoveries onto his table.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack knelt down right next to Audrey's head. She had dozed off, covered up to her chin by that blanket. For a moment he considered letting her rest, but she had already sensed that he was here. Tiredly she opened up her eyes.

"How are you?", he asked.

"Fine. I'm okay.", she silently answered, but he didn't believe her.

Instead, Jack raised his hand, showing her a small bottle of pills. "I found these. They're probably not the same your doctor prescribed you, but…"

She stretched out her hand and gladly took the bottle. "What is this?"

"Some… paracetamol preparation.", he said and gave her a glass of water. "Take two."

She brushed the blanket aside and sat up, as she saw that he had brought even more things here- anything eatable from all over the house. A half loaf of bread, a few cans, some cheese and a few beverage bottles.

Jack stood up, went around the small table and settled to the couch next to her. "That's all I found, we'll have to live with that.", he said. "There's no gas for the stove, no electricity, not even running water."

Audrey took the bread saw and cut off a piece. "I'm fine with that.", she answered, hoping the painkillers would kick in soon.

He had put a little candle on the far edge of the table, barely lighting the scene. She glanced sidelong at him. He didn't notice. _He looks damn tired,_ she thought, _and still he's looking after me._ It felt so good to have him here. She couldn't have expressed that in words.

Suddenly the phone, which he had also put onto the table, vibrated. Jack read the message. _Conflicting values, confirm,_ it read.

"They got the grid for the measuring stations back on.", he said to Audrey, and wrote back, _Fake, move in._

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chloe now got the confirmation. DCNPP definitely was Diablo Canyon. Sector 9, 75 miles out was a radioactivity measurement station, it belonged to their safety net. Jack had told them there was no 'little boy' – which was a synonym for an atomic bomb. Finally she had realized, that the first atomic bomb ever used by the us army had had a name – little boy. He had most likely derived that information from that radioactivity readout.

But the funny thing was that it didn't read zero.

She had written Jack a short message, asking him to confirm the value. He had answered that the new measurement was a fake, and they should come in.

A few minutes ago the people from Diablo Canyon had been able to miraculously restore power in their safety network. All the sectors around Bakersfield and Fresno had reported extremely high radiation values.

Chloe was in the situation room, together with Lynn and Wellington. President Taylor and Secretary Heller were on the phone. All the facts were on the table. The measured values were disturbingly high.

Jack's message had been right the opposite, telling them the values were zero.

"What do you suggest?", President Taylor asked.

"I suggest to observe the area, but not to go in. That's way too dangerous.", Wellington answered. He shut Chloe down with an angry face at her, as she was trying to say something against it.

"Why did Bauer send a different message?", she asked, "Does he have any reason for this?"

"Well…. He could have seen the station unpowered.", Wellington said. "The gauges do have a battery which keeps them working, but… maybe that one wasn't. Or" he took a deep breath, "He wants us to enter the area to get them out. We can't rule this out."

"That's ridiculous.", Chloe hissed at him.

"No, it' not.", he hissed back.

President Taylor followed their fight over the phone. She sat at her table in her office, Heller on the other side. They had the same situation. "We're standing down. No one enters for tonight. Let's try to get some more significant measurements.", she said.

"Alright, Madam President.", Wellington answered. They ended their call.

Slowly she leant forward, towards Heller. "I'm sorry for your daughter, James.", she said, having a hard time, "But that's the only decision I can make."

He nodded, understandingly.

But from the look in his eyes she could tell that he was deeply sad.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack took the phone again, as it vibrated.

His heart sank as he read Chloe's message. _Nobody's coming. _

He leant back into the couch, then he took the batteries out of the phone. They weren't believing him.

"What is it?", Audrey concernedly asked.

He leant there and closed his eyes for a moment. "They don't believe us. And they're not coming to get us out of here. We'll have to get back to the army checkpoint at North Valley all on our own.", he murmured. Possible routes, possible dangers, ways out and enemies flashed across his mind. Finally he opened his eyes again and wearily looked at her. "I hate to do that to you, but I think we really need to move again.", he silently began to speak, "We used the phone here, if they'd trace us… and find us here, nobody's coming to get us out. We need to wipe out our traces if we want to have a quiet night."

Audrey nodded her head yes. She was extremely tired, too, but the thought of being found here was worse. "Let's go.", she answered.

They took the most necessary things with them and left the house.


	14. Darkness

Darkness Sunday, 00:40 am LT, South of Bakersfield

As they entered the sleeping room it was way past midnight. They were both tired, but keeping up for the other.

Audrey had desperately wanted to take a nap at the back seats, but she hadn't. Instead, she had sat in front all the time, helping Jack to navigate through the lonely streets.

Fear had been constantly with them. Most likely these guys had some patrols out there. If they'd met one of these black SUVs, filled with five men each, heavily armed, they wouldn't have had much of a chance against them.

Most of the time Jack had been driving without the lights on, making them even go slower.

But in the end, they had found what they needed – another bunch of houses, a small settlement, completely abandoned.

Jack put the large bag down to ground and went over to the windows. Out of a habit he checked the surroundings and then pulled the net curtains closed. They didn't have any electricity. Everything on the outside was completely dark. He couldn't remember if he had ever seen such a dark view. No light was on the horizon.

The darkness was the most frightening thing of all.

The longer he thought, it came into his mind that he had seen that kind of darkness before- in China. There had been weeks in which he only knew the totally unlighted cell and the dim light in the room where they used to…

Taking a deep breath he turned away from the window and pushed his thoughts aside. He put on a smile for Audrey. There she stood, a torch in her hands, which was set to the lowest possible level. "How are you?", he silently asked.

"I'm fine.", she answered, softly smiling back. "I'm not even tired anymore."

Jack bent down and took one of the candles out of their bag. In the light of the torch he lit up the candle to put it on the floor, at the foot of the bed. He made sure that the light of the candle wasn't bright enough to be seen from the outside.

Audrey shut off the torch and sat down.

Jack knelt in front of her. "We should take a look on your stomach.", he remarked. "Will you let me see it?"

Audrey hesitated for a moment, but then she laid down across the bed's foot end. It hurt to strain the muscles at her abdomen during lying down. Quickly Jack put his arms beneath her back and supported her.

She lay there and helped him pull her sweatshirt a few inches up. In the middle of it she hesitated. "Please be careful…", she begged, awaiting some pain, as he would pull away the bandages.

Jack softly looked into her eyes. "I will. Promise.", he silently said.

Very slowly he pulled her sweatshirt up a bit farther.

Audrey watched his face, as he carefully opened up the bandages. The candlelight made this all look so unreal. Jack, exposing her stomach, his hands on her. It all felt so familiar. His touch was incredibly tender.

For a moment he raised up the candle to have a closer look at the wound from her surgery. Her abdomen had a two inch wide cut at the right side. The skin around it was heavily bruised. But there was almost nothing, at least no blood visible on the old gauze. "Looks good. I'm glad.", he told her, put the candle back down and got the medical kit out of their bag, which he had also taken out of the car.

Audrey watched him how he replaced the gauze and fixed the bandages again. "Done.", he remarked and softly pulled her sweatshirt back to cover her exposed abdomen. She would have so badly wanted to place her hands on his, stopping him from doing that. He should have kept his hands on her skin. It simply felt good.

Eventually Jack stood up and went into the bathroom.

Audrey remained lying on the bed. She watched the bathroom door, awaiting him to come out. Several minutes passed, in which nothing happened.

"Jack?", she asked into the darkness. Again, no response.

She rolled of the bed and finally went a bit closer to the halfway opened bathroom door. "Jack?", she silently asked again, but he didn't answer. Audrey dared to peek inside the dark room. "Jack?"

He stood in front of the washbowl, opening the buttons of his black shirt. As he saw Audrey coming in he stopped at once. "Hey.", he silently said. "There's no warm water, I've just tried."

She nodded, though she knew he'd might not even see it. In the dim light she could barely see that his shirt was halfway opened up. "Come over to the bed." She softly took his hands. "It's my turn now. Let me take care of your shoulder."

But Jack hesitated. "Audrey…" She came closer but he didn't want her to. As she put her hands on his torso he silently whispered _no._ She didn't let go, instead she brushed the shirt aside, exposing his left collar bone, which was dark from a heavy bruise. That was too close. "Let it go, Audrey.", he told her.

With disbelieve she looked up into his eyes. "It's okay, Jack. Let me help you." Audrey pulled his shirt farther aside , exposing all of his left shoulder, until she could see the first tattoo on his left upper arm. It was impossible to see anything in here. "Come with me.", she ordered, pulling him with her, out of the bathroom.

"Audrey.", Jack protested. He didn't feel comfortable with this. He didn't feel comfortable when Audrey would strip that shirt from him and expose his back. These scars on his back belong to those things which he kept to himself. He didn't want her to see them.

She didn't listen to him. Instead she yet came closer and opened up the last three buttons of his shirt.

"Stop it, Audrey.", he pleaded, "Please."

For a short moment she hesitated and looked into his eyes. "What's wrong?", she asked him. He simply stood there. His view was strange. He looked past her, into the void. As she laid her hands back on his torso, she felt him trembling.

"Audrey, please. Stop.", he told her. "Let me go, please."

She was right about to brush the shirt off his shoulders.

Jack broke away from her, rushed away and leant his back against the wall. "I said let go.", he roared.

Audrey jerked. She stayed where she was, partly frightened.

Then again she had a look at him, he seemed to be fighting with himself.

Slowly she could figure out what he was fighting against. The shirt which she had almost stripped from him was back on. He pressed himself against the wall, avoiding to look at her. But she knew exactly what he was hiding.

Audrey went a few steps over to him, stood in front of him, but kept an arm's length away. "Jack?", she whispered.

He didn't look at her. "I'm sorry.", he answered, even kept repeating it.

She went one step closer.

Too close again. Jack turned to her.

"I'm not ready for this, Audrey.", he silently said. "There are some things I simply don't want you to see." _Why don't I?_ He kept asking himself, right now. He didn't have an answer.

"It's alright, Jack.", she answered and came even closer. Innocently she showed him her hands. "Look, I'm not going to do anything, ok?" Then she cautiously laid her hands on his chest, ran them up his neck and caressed his cheeks. Deeply she looked into his eyes. She felt that he had calmed down a bit.

"I'm sorry.", he repeated again.

"Don't be.", Audrey answered. She bent his head down and laid her forehead against his. "I know exactly how you feel."

For once he believed her.

"I don't want you to see this.", he added.

"I know." She realized now that he hadn't talked about his time in China up to now. To nobody.

He looked straight into her eyes, which were only an inch or two away from his. She was so changed compared to the last time he had seen her. Now she was suddenly so strong, stronger than he had ever imagined or remembered her to be. Right now he had to admit that she was even stronger than he was. "Please, Audrey.", he begged again. "Don't force me to show you."

"What makes you believe I haven't already seen it?", she silently said. "I was there, Jack.", she added in a whisper. While her left hand stayed at his face, she ran her right hand through his hair, thereafter down his neck, along his spine, to his back. "I was there when they hung you from the ceiling and used to beat you.", she tonelessly said, "Cheng made me watch when they strapped you to that table and whipped you." She ran her fingers exactly over the scars which he had gotten there. Audrey could even feel them through the fabric of his shirt. "They made me watch when they poured acid into your wounds.", she continued and ran her hand over another one of these scars.

Jack felt his heart sink. She knew everything. Behind each crater on his disfigured back there was a story which she already knew. He had grabbed the doorframe of the bathroom door and the bureau nearby before- to keep her from pulling his shirt off. Slowly he let go and lowered his arms.

Now it almost slid off itself. The black fabric fell to the floor, leaving him in front of her, exposed.

Jack felt like standing fully naked in front of an audience. Yet it had only been his shirt and the audience was only Audrey's hand, caressing one of his scars.

"Come here.", she said and gently guided him back to the bed, where she made him sit down. She moved behind him and started to take care of his shoulder.

During all of this, no one of them said a single word.

Audrey cleaned and disinfected the small entry wound. After she had washed away all the dried blood it didn't even look that terrible any more. The bullet probably still stuck in there, somewhere. The large, dark bruise on his chest, beneath his collar bone also belonged to it.

But compared to all these scars this wound looked negligible. She taped a bandage on it and put away the medical kit. At a loss of words she simply hugged Jack from behind. Her head rested on his right shoulder.

Jack still sat there silently, his right arm put down beside them on the bed, supporting their weight. Audrey could see some new tattoos covering his forearm. She knew what they were hiding – another bunch of scars out of China. Tenderly she laid her hand on them.

"You watched all this…", he finally spoke.

Audrey nodded her head. "Yes."

"How can you only talk about it so calmly?", he asked. "I can't even think of it. Whenever it gets into my mind I have to push it away because I can't cope with this, Audrey. Please don't make me go through that again."

"It's alright.", she answered. "I won't." Audrey snuggled against his back. "I just want you to know one thing, Jack.", she whispered into his ear. "I would do it all again just the way it was. I regret no second."

"Audrey…"

"… no, Jack, let me finish.", she cut him off, "I know this hard for you to hear. All I want you to know is that you're not alone. You haven't been and you're not now."

Jack sat there, immovably. He couldn't believe that all this was happening. He felt her body against his back, the arm which she had wrapped around his chest and her other hand on his right forearm. Her breath tickled his neck. He stared into the darkness. She was right, he hadn't been alone in China. The thoughts and the memories of her had kept him alive, all the time. "Where… did they keep you?", he finally asked.

Audrey sighed. "Same house, in a different cell. They made me watch their interrogations from the adjacent room."

Jack remembered the large glass windows. On the days when Cheng hadn't been around he had guessed he might be watching from there. But it had never come to his mind that he had been there together with Audrey.

"I thought of you, all the time.", he tonelessly said.

"I know.", Audrey answered. She closed her eyes and pressed her face against his neck tightly, until she could feel his hair tickling her forehead and could smell his skin. She remembered the days when they would torture him in their most brutal ways, until he'd lose his consciousness. They usually woke him again two or three times before they'd finally give it up.

Cheng had used to let his guards drag Jacks body into the room, where he had kept her, bound to a chair. They had thrown him on the ground in front of her, into the dirt, his hands bound on his back, in such an unusual ways that she could guess it would constantly hurt.

Then Cheng had used to yell at her, _is that what you want?_ while he had been forcing her to look at Jack. _You can end this,_ he had used to tell her. Cheng had left the room, leaving them alone, giving her time to think. She had been bound to the chair and gagged, Jack unconscious.

There had been days, on which she wouldn't have recognized him through all the dirt and blood, if it hadn't been for the unique tattoos on his arms.

He had murmured her name, when drifting from unconsciousness to a state of painful delirium and then back to sleep, caused of pure exhaustion. But he hadn't seen her one time. Cheng was afraid that his broken will to live might restored if he saw her, so he always placed a guard in the room who would drag Jack away or beat him unconscious if he woke up before Cheng came to back to continue asking questions…

"I know.", she simply said again, keeping the memory to herself. "I love you."

Jack was overwhelmed by all his thoughts, memories and feelings. One part of him wanted to turn around, grab her, pull her down to the bed with him and do whatever would come into their minds but another part simply couldn't. So much had happened in between. Things Audrey didn't know. Renee came across his mind.

He turned around and took Audrey firmly into his arms. "I love you, too.", he murmured and kissed her forehead. It was no lie. It felt so good to hold her. It felt simply good to hold somebody who could understand him. But still he couldn't let her get closer. After all she was married. He already feared the second in which he'd have to give her away – into the hands of her new husband.  
"China was horrible. But there are so far worse things.", he silently said.

Audrey looked up at his face. She could see right into his soul. "Tell me."

He was at a loss for words. He neither know where to start, nor with what to continue. "Some other time, ok?", he asked.

"Okay.", she softly answered.

Jack broke away from her and bent down over the foot end of the bed, to blow out the candle.

He brushed off his socks and shoes, what Audrey had done long before.

Then he laid down into the complete darkness. He groped for his gun, pulled it out of the holster at his belt. Out of a habit he racked the slide once, checked on the bullets in the magazine and then closed the safety latch before he placed the gun beside him.

He lay in complete darkness. As he held his own hand before his eyes he didn't even see it. Everything was dead silent.

Eventually he felt Audrey's hand on his chest. She slid closer.

Right as he wanted to say something, she put her finger on his lips. "Hush." She wanted to rest her head at his left shoulder, as she remembered the gunshot wound. Audrey slid a bit higher and laid down on the pillow. She desperately wanted to be close to him, though he hadn't let her before. He would have his reasons. "Just let me be here.", she whispered.

Audrey was thoroughly happy when he returned her hug. They fell asleep in a tight embrace.


	15. Morning

Morning Sunday, 07:16 am PST, New York

Chloe sat in her office chair again. She was feeling tired, though she had had the chance to get a few hours of sleep here, in one of CTU's rooms. The decision from yesterday evening hadn't gone out of her mind.

Wellington approached her desk. "Briefing in the situation room, in two minutes.", he spoke.

"Why? Is there something new?", she asked.

"Yes. We're getting more and more conflicting values.", he answered and went off.

_Damn it, Jack was probably right,_ shot through her head, as she watched him leave. But this time, she told herself, she wouldn't speak this out loud. Wellington didn't like to hear them.

She packed her things to go to the situation room.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

As Audrey woke up, she could almost not believe what she was seeing. Jack was here with her. He was still asleep, right next to her. He lay half at his right side, turned face-down. Her head rested on his upper right arm. His left arm was put around her waist, like her right arm was around his.

She softly stroked over his naked skin. For the first time now, in the daylight, she could really see him precisely.

His left shoulder looked worse than she had remembered it. There was a large and dark bruise until down to his collar bone. The entry wound she had already taken care of yesterday evening. But on his back there was another series of dark bruises. The way they looked like he might had really caught some shots with his vest.

Concerned she stroked over his back -gentle enough not to make him wake up.

She looked at his face, inches away from her.

She had never completely forgotten him, though she had to admit, that in the last two years, she had thought less about him. The years before thoughts about him had almost constantly accompanied her. She had thought of him when she had woken up, when she had gone to sleep, when she had had a nightmare of their time in China, when she thought of her former job at the DOD,… every second.

There had been a time where she had been angry at him, for that he had left her.

Then there had been a time when she had even forgiven him about that.

Then there had been a time when her grief had had an end she was able to forget him.

As she saw him lying here in front of her now she realized that she had never forgotten him completely. This simple view put butterflies in her stomach.

She stroked softly over his cheek. There was a small laceration above his left eyebrow. His hair was disheveled and the stubble on his cheeks showed her that he hadn't shaved in days.

Audrey had to admit that she had never known him like that. She had spent her time with him in Washington. There, she knew, he had not lived like he had ever done it before and afterwards. He was not one of the guys from the government, always wearing a perfect black suit. During their time in D.C. she had only caught a glimpse of how he really was.

She had read his file after he had 'died'. The man which had been portrayed there had so much more fit what she had seen of him.

She had fallen in love again, with that imaginary person who she gotten to know in these files.

Exactly that person lay in front of her now.

He slightly moved as he woke.

As he opened up his eyes he saw her face. It felt like waking up into a dream.

Audrey smiled at him. "Good morning…", she said.

"Good morning, too…", he tiredly answered, "how late is it?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"How long have you been awake?"

"A few minutes, maybe.", she replied, "It was bright ever since. Did I wake you up?"

Jack shook his head. He slightly moved his head to have a look at his wristwatch. It was 7:30 am, time to leave.

"Are you ready to go soon?", he silently asked her.

Audrey nodded, though she would have preferred just to stay here like this, for a really long time.

Jack yawned and rolled onto his back. He watched the ceiling for a few moments.

"What's up?", Audrey asked him.

"Nothing.", he sighed. "I was only thinking about where to go next. We'll have to join the highway again. I think I'll make the phone call from there. We have to tell them what we saw yesterday", he said to her, but he was thinking of something totally different.

Jack looked outside the window. They were pretty much in the wilderness here. There was no house on the other street side, no hill, no trees where a sniper could wait. As they had come here he had chosen this house to be their hideout, exactly for that reason.

Audrey softly laid her hand at his chest. "Something's bothering you, I can see it.", she said.

He imperceptibly nodded. "That's a long story, Audrey.", he murmured. He thought of Renee, how he had carried her to the hospital, how she had died in his arms. "I lost someone recently."

Immovably she lay there and watched him. From the way he had said these words she simply knew that it was a woman. From the look in his eyes she could tell that she had meant a lot to him.

Audrey could almost feel his sadness as if it was her own.

For a moment she had thought she'd get jealous, but she didn't. She saw him sad and she simply got sad herself.

She slipped closer to him and put arms around him. Tenderly she took him into her arms, held him close and stroked over his hair. Nobody of them said a single word.

Jack had never thought that he would end up in Audrey's arms, weeping for another woman. But he couldn't fight the tears. She was the first person on earth to who he talked about Renee's death. There was not much to say. She had died in his arms, shot by a sniper, lying in his bed. He didn't tell Audrey all these ugly details.

All he did was to lie there and fight the tears.

Audrey simply held him closer. He had said yesterday, that his life had only become worse after his return from China. She wondered what else he had maybe experienced. His body was a landscape of cruelties. His soul couldn't be so much better.

Along with the scars of their stay in China she saw a set of sutures on his back, along his spine. They looked newer than the scars from China. Somebody must have also stabbed him with a knife into his stomach not long ago. The scar and the new skin around didn't look very old. He was a big mess all over.

She had seen the marriage ring on his right hand. Audrey didn't dare asking if she was the one he was weeping for.

Softly she rubbed circles on his back, holding him tightly against her chest. That was something she had never done before. Yes, she had seen him cry, like a hundred times, in China. But they hadn't once given her a chance to comfort him, let alone even to touch him. In that moment she realized that she loved him way beyond how she had loved him before. It didn't matter to her who he was sharing his life with. She'd always be there for him.

She placed a tender kiss on his head and kept him close.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

CTU Situation room, New York. All the facts were on the table. They had highest radioactivity readouts from all remaining measurement stations. Only one of them read zero, like yesterday evening. Back there they had clearly said that was a failure- but during the night, some had started to doubt this.

Several people coming from the city had been contaminated, by the most different doses. Tomorrow morning a few people had reached the army checkpoint in North Valley – and they hadn't had a single bit of radioactive material on them.

President Taylor was slowly reconsidering her position about not sending anyone into the parameter. She was on the phone, requesting a few minutes to think about the operation. "My office will call you in a few minutes time.", she said and hung up.

Allyson Taylor leant back into her office chair.

Heller sat again on the opposite side of the table.

"What do you think about this?", she asked him.

"I think, Madam President, we should consider moving in.", he answered.

She sighed. "The facts are overwhelming. We have readouts. Why don't we trust them any more? Rather depend on people who come from the outskirts and haven't really been in contact with that material?"

"I'm not saying this, Madam President, because I want to save my daughter. But I honestly think that we should get somebody into the city." He stood up and started to walk around in the room. "And there is one possibility that could even solve your delicate problem again for a bit of time."

"I'm listening."

"We're sending Bauer back in."

Allyson Taylor shook her head. "No, Mr. Secretary. I have no interest in getting that man killed, even if it would solve that problem."

"He can look after himself.", James Heller continued. "He is trained for missions like these. And besides- he's coming right out of this area. If there was a nuclear contamination, he's already been contaminated. There's nothing that mission would make worse."

Her resistance against his plan eventually began to cease. "How do you think you can make this man go back there? Force? Extortion? Threatening?"

James Heller shook his head. "No, none of that. We'll simply ask. He won't say no if he has this pardon within his grasp."

She took another minute to think about it. She wasn't thoroughly happy with this decision, but it was the best solution she had heard up to now. Finally, she stood up and crossed her arms, as she had a look at Heller. "Alright, let's try. If you can really get him to say yes, I'll be gladly supporting your exploratory mission."

James Heller nodded. "I'll make the arrangements right away.", he answered and headed out of the room.


	16. Prospect

Prospect Sunday, 09:31 am LT, South of Bakersfield

Two hours later Jack and Audrey finally sat in the car again, having reached the highway and driving due south along with all the others in the crowd. He was planning to make their phone call from here, to make the impression that they had mingled with the huge crowds going south. If anyone traced their call they should search the highway for them.

The crowds had become more peaceful. The street fights which they had seen going on for the last two days had ceased around here. It was almost a civilized caravan of hundreds of cars.

Jack didn't trust the awkward and sudden peace and silence. He had given Audrey the bullet proof vest that he had worn during the last days. She hadn't wanted to put it on but he had insisted. At some point in the argue he had simply taken it, put it over head and fastened it around her body. She hadn't been able to defend.

He had briefed her about the best routes away from here. Follow the crowd, keep a gun ready and try not to attract attention, he had told her. Now she was glancing sidelong at him. He had taken out the batteries of their sat phone.

They stood close to the highway at a parking bay, after having joined the crowds. Jack reassembled the phone and called the number of Agent McCoy to ask him to patch him through to the checkpoint at North Valley.

Without giving away their exact location he told him that they were on their way and could reach the southern checkpoint within the next six hours. That was the place where he had started his journey from two days ago.

Colonel Wyatt was on the line- he was in command at all the checkpoints south of Bakersfield. He was also talking in riddles, but Jack understood that he wanted them to move eastwards, where they'd pick him and Audrey up somewhere halfway. It looked like Heller had prepared a crew that would at least meet them halfway. They ended their call before it had reached the duration of sixty seconds, which was somewhat the minimum duration to be located.

Jack decided to follow the highway for a few miles due south, until the junction with one of the smaller roads towards east.

Audrey had pulled the old map out of the glove compartment. It had been years since they had used a normal map for the last time. Audrey had the map on her lap and pointed her finger on their actual position while Jack was driving.

There was heavy traffic on the highway. The people who hadn't made it out of the city were now leaving. They all had these strange views at their faces - they had seen things which they had never seen before in the last two days.

Everything was out of law. Broken down cars and sometimes even dead bodies lay at the roadside. Audrey knew she could easily be one of them. Most of them had died in vain. They had been killed by the panic that everyone wanted to flee from something that actually hadn't even happened. None of them would have had to die.

Jack just wanted to take the battery out of the phone again, as it rang.

Hurriedly he took the call. "Yes?"

"Mr. Bauer?"

He recognized the voice. It was Colonel Wyatt speaking again. But this time not out of a situation room. That was a personal call. "Go ahead.", Jack said.

"Mr. Bauer, I was told about your… uncertain situation upon return.", Wyatt began, "I could offer you a possibility to solve that."

Jack sneered at the words 'uncertain situation'. President Taylor had offered him a pardon. But that did still not save him from all the others who wanted him dead. He had no job, had no place to live, probably not even enough money to travel back to New York. "Go ahead.", Jack said again.

"A high ranking person would like to join our forces again. I can offer you to be reinstated on a temporary basis and you would receive your former rank as Captain.", Wyatt announced.

Jack didn't trust this offer. "What's the downside? What do you want in return?", he asked. He glanced sidelong at Audrey. She had only heard his side of the conversation and that was very little. She wasn't suspicious yet.

"We've directed you east because that is the closest possible meeting point. When you meet our men we want you to go back to Bakersfield with them."

"Why?"

"Because...", Wyatt began. "We've got no good satellite image of the area and no thermal scan. So far you are the only one who had enemy contact. That's valuable."

"I can relate, Sir.", Jack said. He took a deep breath and looked at the display of the phone. 51 seconds. He had 9 seconds left to decide about this. Was there anything to decide? Of course he'd do it. That was the most of a pardon he could ever expect.

"Let's do it like you said.", Jack answered and hung up the phone, right in time. Then he finally removed the batteries.

Silently he laid it onto the backseats. "They're going to meet us halfway, with an army convoy.", he said to Audrey.

She nodded, glancing sidelong at him. There had been more in this call.


	17. History, pt 1

History, pt. 1 Sunday, 12:29 am LT, East of Bakersfield

"Jack, stop the car.", Audrey told him. They had been driving for another three hours. After about half of the way she had moved to the backseats, because sitting at the front seat for such a long time hurt her.

He didn't know why she would say that so he drove on, asking, "Do you need something?"

"Please, just do it.", she said.

Jack slowed down and stopped the car on the verge. They were the only ones on this street, nobody was in sight, in every direction they looked. They had taken the only road due east, which lead into a mountainous region. It was a small road, single track and not heavily frequented. On the last 15 miles they had met only two other cars. Still he had a close look around before he turned to Audrey. "Hey… is there anything I can do for you?", he asked her.

"As a matter of fact…. Yes.", she hesitatingly answered, still looking for the right words. "When will they be here?"

Jack sighed as he looked at his wristwatch. "I'm not sure, but I guess they could be here any minute, since they wanted to meet us half way."

She grabbed the back of the seats and fought hard to pull herself up to a sitting position.

Jack couldn't watch her fighting. He hurriedly got out of the driver's seat and opened up the back door, got in and helped her to sit up. "Hey, let me help you.", he worriedly said to her.

Audrey looked right into his eyes.

Their views met. The view which she was watching him with was a very strange one. He had rarely seen that one before on her face- that frightened him somehow. "What's up with you, Audrey… are you ok?", he hesitatingly said.

She nodded her head yes. But right after that she put her arms around him and held him close.

Jack was stunned by that action, but he simply let her. Gradually he realized that she was fighting some tears. He also put his arms around her body and softly rubbed circles on her back. "Everything's okay, Audrey.", he whispered into her ear, "You're out of this now… you're going to be home soon."

But that weren't the right words to make her feel better. Even tighter she clung to him. "I've heard you talking on the phone, Jack.", she said, "I know you didn't want me to hear, but I heard what you said. That you are going back into the city." She broke the embrace and leant back to look into his eyes. "When were you going to tell me?"

He sat there, thinking of an answer.

"Or weren't you planning at all to tell me that? Not even saying goodbye after what we went through? They will be here any minute, I know that myself.", she reproachfully asked.

"I… I don't know, Audrey.", he stammered. Slowly he raised his right hand and then stroked tenderly of her cheek. "I believe I'm not really good at saying goodbye."

She nodded understandingly, closed her eyes and laid her cheek against the palm of his hand.

Jack intensely eyed her. He couldn't tell her the truth. He could simply not tell her the truth that he didn't want to leave her back. He didn't want to see her return to her normal life, return to her new husband, return to her home which was not his. For so many long and desperate years he had wished to be with her and somehow she had always slipped further away from him. Now he was holding her in his arms but she couldn't have been any more unreachable. He had the feeling that he had lost her, long ago. And this feeling had proven to be right.

"I'm not good at saying goodbye.", he said again. As he looked outside he could see the "I wanted to spare us the moment."

She opened her eyes again and disapprovingly looked at him. "Spare us the moment? Like last time? When I needed you and you simply left me?"

Jack felt his heart sink. She didn't know why he had left her? Of course, James Heller hadn't told her. "I…didn't want to leave you.", he answered.

"Why did you do it then?", she directly asked him. Helplessly she slammed one hand against his chest. "Why?", she asked again, close to tears.

Jack bent forward and took her into his arms. "Because…", he started, but wasn't able to continue. If he told her the truth now, he knew, that would mess up her life. He didn't want to protect James Heller now, but neither could he tell her the awful truth right now. He decided to start over again. "Audrey, I told you that the worst things of all started after we came back from China.", he began, "I had to leave the country, because our government was suddenly seeing me as a criminal… I couldn't take you with me, given the shape you were in."

"Why?", she stammered, "Why haven't you at least tried?"

"I have…", he breathed, clung to her and whispered into her ear, "God, you should have seen how hard I tried."

They heard the army jeeps approaching, before he could even see them. Once they were here, he knew, he would have to let her go back into her normal life.

They slowly ended their hug and sat there again, facing each other.

Audrey softly framed his face with her hands. "Will you tell me one day?"

He nodded his head yes.

Slowly she slid a bit closer, still looking directly into his eyes.

He did so, too.

He saw her coming closer and his view was like glued to her lips. She was coming closer, leaning towards him to kiss him. He knew how perfect it would feel to do that. He remembered how soft her lips were and how it felt like to caress her tongue with his own. Just an inch before her lips reached his he hesitated, and then he broke away.

Audrey sat there and watched how he opened up the door, slid out of the car and went towards the approaching army jeeps.

She felt like an idiot. Had she pushed him too far, by finally trying to kiss him? For a moment she had thought that he'd be ready for this, but it seemed like he wasn't. She had definitely made a huge mistake. One she couldn't correct any more. She could have sworn that she had felt that the moment had come and he would be ready for this, but actually it seemed that she had read the signs wrong.

They were here now.

The troop leader got out from the first car and approached Jack. They talked a few minutes, before Jack wove his hand at approximately her position. He once looked back, but couldn't even see her behind the darkened windows. Then he turned away and went over to the other army jeeps.

Audrey lost sight of him. One of the soldiers came over to her SUV and had a look in. "Mrs. Anderson?", he asked.

She didn't respond at first time.

"Mrs. Anderson?", he asked again, slightly concerned.

Audrey turned to him. "Yes?"

He wove his hand to the medic to come over. "Mrs. Anderson, this is our medic, corpsman Miller. He can offer you help if you need any."

Audrey had a look at the guy who now came over and looked into the car. He was a bit taller than Jack, also had this dark blonde hair and was in his mid-twenties. As he spotted her, he really looked concerned.

"I'm fine, thank you.", she answered, "I really don't think that I need help."

Yet still he didn't let loose. "I'm glad, Mrs. Anderson. Are you able to get out of the car by yourself? We need you to board one of our vehicles, to get you back to our base."

She slowly moved out, and as Miller saw that she still had some troubles when heaving herself out of that car he supported her.

Audrey gladly let him. But this was different from when Jack had helped her. This man was not nearly as careful.

She let her view wander around through the few army jeeps, as she went over to one of them. Jack was out of sight. He had simply disappeared.

Absent mindedly Audrey boarded the vehicle, still looking out for him.

That corpsman Miller and the other soldiers were repeatedly talking to her, as they secured her in the vehicle. She didn't notice about half of what they said to her. Her thoughts were far away and her eyes were still looking around, desperately searching for Jack.

Even Miller eventually realized that she was searching something. "Mrs. Anderson. Is there anything I can do for you?", he worriedly asked and tried to follow her view to what she was looking for.

Audrey cleared her throat before she dared to ask him. "I'm looking for Agent Bauer, who brought me here."

Right in that moment one of the other soldiers closed the vehicle's doors behind Miller and Audrey. They were planning to leave already.

Hurriedly Audrey started to search for Jack again.

Miller also did so, but he also needed to tell her that they had to go. "Mrs. Anderson, I know he is around here somewhere, but he is not going to come with us. You can meet him when we get back to our base.", he reassured her. "We have to leave immediately."

Without further notice they started to drive.

Audrey was still searching the surroundings to gather a last view at Jack, wherever he might be. She should have talked earlier to him, she reproached herself. This all had come so suddenly, and he had disappeared again, like he had done so often.

A bad feeling spread inside her chest. Whenever he had left her like this, he hadn't returned.

Feeling uneasy she traveled on. Corpsman Miller was still trying to give her some medical assistance, as well as a few of the other men seemed very concerned about her.

She couldn't even understand why they were giving her so much attention. They had sent a whole car just to pick her up- but why?

"Where are we going?", she asked Miller.

"Edwards Air force base.", he answered instantly. "Your father and your husband have already been informed. They will be waiting for you.", he said, hoping to cheer her up.

But exactly the counterpart happened.

Audrey shuddered to think about her husband. Nothing had become more alien to her in the last couple of days than thinking of him. She started to play around at her marriage ring, when she remembered that Jack had also worn one. They both had moved on in the time when the hadn't been together. Why did it suddenly feel so wrong?

She couldn't help being jealous and hurt. But why? He had moved on, and so had she. But seeing him with a marriage ring had disturbed her in a way that she hadn't believed would be possible any more. After what he had told her she should rather be sorry for him than jealous.

"Mrs. Anderson?", Miller asked.

She turned to him. "Yes?"

"Do you want to speak to your father? He is on the line, asking for you."

Audrey took the sat phone, a bit perplexed. "Dad?", she answered it.

"Audrey, I'm so glad to hear you. Are you alright?", James Heller answered.

"Yes… I am… dad.", she stammered, at a loss of what to say. "I heard you'll be there when we arrive?"

"Yes. Given the circumstances… given what discovery you and Jack made yesterday… and what's happening, the command post for our next operations will be there. I loved to use the chance to see you.", he spoke, "Audrey, I' so glad you're alright."

She said nothing for a moment. "Dad, we have to talk when I arrive."

"I'll be there.", Heller answered, exactly knowing what she wanted to talk about. "We're waiting for you here, Miles and I."

"Alright. See you there, bye dad.", she said and hurriedly hung up. So her husband was waiting, along with her father.

Miles Anderson, MD had been his most desired son-in-law. He was the one who had a suitable position, a suitable income and a suitable reputation for the son-in-law of the secretary of defense.

James Heller had spared no effort to support her and Miles' relationship as it had developed three years ago. She had just been over Jack and the aftermath of her experiences in China, as he Miles had come into her life. She had met him by chance at the hospital, right as they were about to release her.

Though she had never really told Miles her story about China, she was sure that he had simply read everything about her from her patients file. She had always wondered how patient he was with her. He hadn't once forced her to talk about her past, and she hadn't ever talked to him about it. He had known pretty little about her past at all.

The only thing she had told him, was that she had been married once, and widowed. Paul, as she had told him, had been shot during a terrorist attack which had been associated with DOD. More she hadn't wanted to tell him, and she had used confidentiality as a reason.

Now, in the aftermath, it felt like Miles didn't know anything about her life at all.

It was a strange feeling to know that he was waiting for her.

Audrey looked outside of the back windows once again, as she was being driven away from the place where they had left Jack and the other troops. Still some very dark looking clouds hung over the whole area, it looked like it would start to rain again.

The other convoy, which had driven back to the city, was out of her sight.

She leant back in silence again, trying to shut off her mind and trying to ban the last few days out of her head, because she knew that she would eventually have to ban them out, to go back to her normal life.


	18. History, pt 2

_I have to admit something now... I've never seen redemption. I don't know what happened between Seasons 6 and 7, so the following is what had happened in my 24 universe._

* * *

History, pt 2 Sunday, 15:51 am LT, Edwards Air Force Base

James Heller walked from one side of his office to the other. Then he turned around at the spot, went back and repeated it again. He only did that when he was very nervous. Today he definitely was.

Miles, Audrey's husband, had left the room for a moment. He would be back any second.

Heller was not so sure how this all would come to a good end. Audrey had seen Jack again, god only knew what he had told her. The truth maybe? That he had been the one who had forced him to leave her? He knew she wouldn't understand it- she would be furiously mad at him. Jack could use that truth any second he liked to convince her to go back to him. That would be devastating.

Heller looked out of the window, here on the third floor and spotted the approaching convoy of army cars. That had to be them. Despite the rough weather it was a marvelous view what he had from here. But he couldn't enjoy it right now.

Even before he had sent Jack to Bakersfield a wild struggle of thoughts had started in his mind. Had it been worth bringing him back into Audrey's life? He knew the truth about so many things which he had desperately tried to hide from Audrey. As he was her father he felt like having to protect her, by what means ever.

Some of his means hadn't been nice. He had driven Jack away by the most awful means. Up to this day he had never cared what had happened to this man. He had gotten him to leave, finally, a few years ago. That was the point when he had stopped to care about what had happened to Jack.

Heller looked over to his computer where he had the file of Bauer. Quickly he went over to close it before Miles would have any chance to get a look at it. Miles didn't even know Jack Bauer existed.

He had read Jack's file on his flight here. Since the day, four years ago, when he last had a look at it, many unattractive details had added to this file.

Heller had seen the restraining order again, which had put at Jack, years ago. The second he had filed it, he had already known it wouldn't be enough to keep him away from Audrey. He had used his governmental channels to make Jack a nationwide delinquent, ordering him finally even to a congress hearing. He had planned so many bad things that should have happened after that hearing… he had desperately wanted to see Jack Bauer to be put behind bars. Though that had never happened, he had stayed away.

All these things hadn't bothered him up to now. Jack had been gone and so were the thoughts about him.

He had never thought that this man would ever return.

But now he was there again and had even been with Audrey again. God knows what he told her.

Heller startled when Miles pushed the door open without knocking.

"They're here. An officer is here to bring us to them.", Miles spoke, his voice cracked, out of anticipation.

Heller slowly rose from the table. He didn't share Miles' anticipation. On the phone he had heard that Audrey was ok, that was all he needed to know. Now he was afraid of what she probably knew.

Slowly he followed Miles and the Officer through the building. He was barely moving so fast not to let them get suspicious about him.

A crowd of people had formed around the army jeeps already. A few medics surrounded her, they had already put her onto gurney whether she had told them she needed it or not.

Heller watched how Miles ran over to her. He hesitated, but then he bowed down, put his arms around her and held her close.

Heller couldn't hear what he was saying, but from what he saw out of here, he knew, that Miles was deeply relieved to see her again, back and unharmed.

But when Heller looked at her, he couldn't get the picture of Jack out of his mind.

When Miles finally let go of Audrey, Heller stepped closer.

She lay there and looked at him, showing him a weak smile.

Heller eyed her closely. He clothes were dirty. She was wearing a bulletproof vest, the way it looked like she must have gotten it from Jack, not from the military. Her hair was disheveled but bound together. He found no blood, not even a minor scratch on her. She was really ok.

A huge load fell off him, when he saw her look.

She smiled at him, and in her view there was no hate, no grief and no allegation.

Heller approached her and bent down. "How are you, my dear?", he silently asked her.

"I'm fine.", she answered, and continued, knowing that only he would understand, "Thank you, dad." _For sending me Jack, _she kept to herself.

He knew what she had wanted to say.

She took his hand for a moment, laid back and closed her eyes.

A few moments later, the medics asked Heller and Miles to step aside and wheeled her away, into the building.

Miles followed them, Heller stayed.

He finally turned away and went back into his office. As he was walking upstairs, he stopped for a moment and sighed in relief. Jack hadn't told her anything of importance. Later on he would visit her and ask her a few questions.


	19. Present

Present Sunday, 16:40 pm LT, Edwards

Audrey was relieved when Miles finally left her room at the hospital ward, here in this huge army building. He had stayed here with her for hours and had barely ever left the side of her bed. For a few minutes he had talked to the doctors on duty about her condition.

She leant back into the pillow and closed her eyes for a moment. It felt good to lie here. She had had a long, warm shower. They had helped her to put off her dirty and sweaty clothes and gave her new ones. Since an eternity she hadn't felt so clean any more. She had washed the dirt off, along with the memories of these fights, of the chaos and the fear.

But she hadn't been able to wash off the memories of Jack.

As she was lying in bed here she couldn't think of anything else but him. He was still out there. He had gone back into the chaos. But why? She couldn't really find an answer on that. There was no reason for that in her eyes.

In her mind she saw him along with the other soldiers, sweeping the streets. When her thoughts got to seeing them in a firefight she quickly ripped her eyes open. She couldn't think of this, of that he might get hurt and not return, because she so desperately wanted to see him again.

Audrey glanced at the door, just to make sure that Miles hadn't already come back. Whenever she thought of Jack, she felt watched, like the little girl who was caught in the pantry, stealing the chocolate.

She had loved to do that when she was young.

In a sigh she closed her eyes again, pulling the blanket over her shoulders. She thought of earlier this day.

It had been around 7a.m. when the first rays of the sun had waked her up, but not Jack. He must have been so exhausted from the restless days and nights before that his body desperately needed a few hours of rest.

His arm had still been around her waist. They had been lying so close.

As she had watched him sleeping she had eyed his whole body from head to toe. The scars, the tattoos and the bruises which he had on his shoulder and on in his back. They were ugly dark blue and black stains on his skin and made her wonder where they might came from.

She had snuggled to his body and had started to caress his back with her right hand.

His breath had been very silent yet still she heard it. His presence was something that was so familiar to her. As she had him lying in her arms it felt like the past years didn't even exist. It felt like she had never gone a day without him.

Audrey sighed deeply.

He had left her. As she had asked him why he hadn't even answered. There had been moments in which she had wanted to ask her father, what had happened but since she knew that he wasn't exactly fond of Jack she had let it be.

To some extent she wanted to know what had happened and why he had left her, to another extent she didn't want to, because there was still the very ugly possibility that he had simply left her because of the condition she was in. Hardly anybody would have been able to cope with a woman in such a condition.

She took a deep breath and looked around in the room. The thoughts of him would simply not get out of her head. Not even when Miles had been with her.

It had felt so strange to kiss him. It had felt strange to get touched by him.

As the door suddenly got opened up Audrey jerked.

Then she realized that it had not been Miles but her father.

He came over to her bed, took a chair and sat down.

"Hi dad.", she weakly smiled.

"Hi my dear." He took her hand into his and squeezed it.

"Where's Miles?", she asked.

"I've sent him to get something to eat.", Heller answered, and then looked directly into her eyes, "so we could have a few minutes to talk."

Audrey knew exactly what he meant. This was about Jack. "Where is he?"

"They are moving against some high probability enemy areas. The next hours will be decisive. I'll tell you when they are coming back.", he reassured her.

Audrey silently nodded, swallowing down her feelings. "Why did he have to go there again?", she more murmured to herself than to her father. "How could you only let him?"

He saw that this was terribly grieving her. "Audrey, my dear,", he began, "We've got no satellite image of the area since the weather is so bad. We've got no reliable infrared picture since the riots have caused so many fires. We've got no power, no working phones in that area… you and Jack were right at their places. There is no other one who could guide our men there."

She stared at the ceiling, immovably. "I know. But I'm so afraid that he won't return."

Heller thought for a second. Actually that would be the best thing that could happen to him. But Jack was hard to kill. He had proven that over the years. "He will return, believe me.", he silently said.

Audrey turned to him, smiling. "Thanks dad."

Yet there was one other thing to discuss. "Audrey, did he tell you why he left you?"

She turned around to her father again. "No, he didn't, really." To some extent Audrey was wondering why her dad had asked her such a question. "I asked him but he didn't really like to talk about this, so I let it be. Why do you ask, dad?"

"I just don't want you to get hurt by that man again, sweetheart.", Heller lied and tenderly stroked over the back of Audrey's hand.

She smiled at him. "No, dad, I won't.", she promised. "I'll ask him again when he comes back."

A cold shower ran down Heller's back. "Do that", he answered, but already made up plans in his mind to prevent that from happening.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack was still musing on the term 'uncertain situation'. It even raised a tiny smile on his lips. It was a nice term to rephrase what it really meant – he was still an outlaw on the run. He didn't know how much Colonel Wyatt knew about this, but whatever, he wasn't here anyway.

Jack glanced at the leader of the platoon that they had assigned to this mission. He sat across him, at the other side of the jeep. His name was Rowan and he had the rank of a Sergeant. Jack didn't even know his first name. He wondered, if Rowan knew the truth about him. Did this man know that he was wanted by the government for being a murderer? Most likely not. It seemed to him, that Rowan had absolutely no prejudice against him.

They all had treated him normally, as if he were one of them. They had given him gear, a full set of weapons… if they'd really think of him as a criminal they wouldn't have done that. Actually, Wyatt had really kept his promise and had given him back his old rank of a Captain. That made him the highest ranking officer on that mission.

But all that couldn't silence that fear of returning, which was growing bigger and bigger. They weren't going to let him run, he was sure.

He looked out of the rear window. They had reached the city now. It was time to push that thoughts away now, if he wanted to survive this.

But there was just one thing that he could simply not get out of his head - the regret, that he hadn't told Audrey the whole truth. He really feared, that there was a chance that he'd never see her again.

Sergeant Rowan commanded his men to get ready. Jack got his infantry rifle and got ready to get out of the jeep.

They pushed the doors open and started to deboard, as suddenly a granade came down on them, out of the nowhere, tearing the first three men into pieces as it exploded.


	20. Return

Return Sunday, 23:50 pm LT, Edwards Air Force Base

It was late in the evening, when Audrey had still not heard anything from Jack. Her dad had left her hours ago, and he had promised her to call her the minute he knew something new from Jack. But nothing had happened up to now.

She glanced at the clock, for the hundredth time. The hands still only showed ten to twelve. Four hours had passed since that nurse had last been here to check on here. Ever since that she hadn't heard a single noise.

Audrey had switched on the little reading light next to the bed. It dimly lit that cold and the furniture was kept very simple. They had done some checks and then had changed the dressing on her wound from the surgery once more. The doctor had told her that she had been lucky. He had seen many more people who had escaped from Bakersfield. Some of them had been in a far worse condition.

She sighed and leant back into the cushion, though she wasn't really tired.

Miles had gone away. This was a military area and they hadn't allowed him to stay the night. Actually she was glad about that. She didn't want to see Miles right now.

They had given her some pain medication, as a precaution. As she moved right now she didn't even feel that she had been in surgery not even a week ago.

Audrey moved her arms and her legs underneath the blanket.

Then she decided to stand up.

She went around in the room, to have a look outside the window.

It was disillusioning to find it only leading to a dirty light well of maybe 4 times 4 yards size. From what she could see here she had to be on the third floor of the building.

She went to the other side of the room and opened up the door. To her surprise it was neither locked nor set off an alarm.

Audrey had a look outside the corridor. She couldn't really remember what it looked like. As they had brought her here there had been people all around her. They had distracted her attention so much that she couldn't even remember if the door to the outside of the hospital ward lay to her left or to her right.

So she simply tried to find it on her own and went right.

As a matter of fact there was nobody around.

The door to one room stood slightly open. Inside was light, but the other door to the adjacent room was closed. Audrey guessed that might be the sleeping room for the nurse or doctor on overnight duty.

The one seemed to be sleeping.

She found the exit door of the ward, silently opened it and sneaked out.

A long corridor lay in front of her. There were no doors on both sides, but on the end there was another corridor joining it. She could see from over here that there were some larger windows.

Audrey went down the hall. The tiles beneath her bare feet were stone cold.

As she reached the end of the corridor she saw another one, leading from left to right. There was a variety of doors on one side of that corridor, and on the other side of it there were all windows. The view from here was down to a huge square.

She could remember that square from being brought here- that was where she had arrived with the convoy a few hours earlier.

She stopped for a moment and leant at the windowsill to have a look down. Everything was dead silent. Nothing on the square moved, except for the two guards patrolling the front gates.

Behind these front gates there were a few other buildings, smaller ones. Behind these there was another fence, another gate, which was also heavily guarded.

For the first time since a while Audrey really felt safe.

She decided to wait here, from where she'd see them approaching when they'd finally arrive.

Hoping that no guard would come along that corridor she sat on the large windowsill and tucked up her legs. She waited. It felt like hours had passed when she saw headlights of a few cars approaching at the horizon.

Hours passed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

James Heller had tried to get some sleep at couch in the office which they had placed at his disposal. But he hadn't been able to get a minute of sleep, no matter how long he forced himself to keep his eyes shut.

Bauer. He is about to return. That was the only thought that went through his head. They had reported about an hour ago that they were successful in allocating a few hostile places. But they hadn't been able to take out all of them. They had gathered all the intelligence which they needed to go back to that place with a lot men more.

He needed to keep this man away. Though their government wasn't seeing him as an outlaw any more since president Taylor had finally agreed to give him some kind of a pardon he was still a high probability target for most of their enemies. It was simply dangerous to be around this guy. He had sworn to himself that he wouldn't expose Audrey to that kind of danger.

When Colonel Wyatt had talked to him yesterday, on the phone, he had listened. It had been a real relief to hear him agree to go back into that fight along with the army. He had already started to weigh his chances whether Bauer would return or not. Bauer had already been there for a few days in a row on his own- that could mean he was already exhausted enough to make some crucial mistakes in the field. Then again, that man was a real professional in what he was doing. He already knew these places and he had the help of a whole platoon which he was about to accompany there.

As a matter of fact, they had reported major losses. Four out of 24 men had been killed, three others wounded. That was another reason why they had returned so early. It was out of question that there were enemies in the area of Bakersfield. But they hadn't been able to find out if there really was radioactivity in the area or not. All the measured values were still conflicting. At some places the measurements were disturbingly high, at other places the values had read zero, they had said.

Their commander, a lieutenant named Rowan had phoned him, happily reporting him that their special team member – Bauer – was also about to return unharmed.

Heller had congratulated him, feigning the congratulation well but not good enough. He would have been glad if Jack hadn't returned.

Sighing he stood up from the couch. He had just now received a message on his cell phone that they had now arrived.

Heller went over to the window in his office and looked down to the main square. A convoy of five trucks had come through the gate. They stopped at the main entrance where they were anticipated by a few doctors who waited with gurneys.

A few men heaved others out of the trucks and placed them on the gurneys. They had shot wounds and needed immediate medical care, Rowan had told him.

Heller decided to stay in his office. His presence wasn't needed there. If possible, he would avoid to get in touch with Jack personally, because he didn't know what would happen. One of the last times he had seen him personally, this man had threatened him with a gun, saying that he was ready to kill him.

It didn't take long to move into the building. The drivers took the trucks away and the rest of their men, who hadn't gone to bring their comrades to medical gathered at the square. By now, the square was fully lighted.

He identified Rowan who moved in front of the men and met his superior, a Major named McKinsey.

Somebody knocked at his door.

Heller startled. Could that be Jack?

He quickly went over to his desk, sat down and opened the uppermost drawer where he kept his gun.

Strained he grabbed the gun before calling to the one outside to come in.

The door slowly opened.

Heller got ready to shoot if it would be Jack.

But in came Colonel Wyatt. "Mr. Secretary?"

Relieved Heller let go of the gun. "Yes, Colonel?"

"Mr. Secretary, would you please join us in the situation room? We'll have a meeting with Sergeant Rowan in a few moments to be debriefed about their mission."

"I'll join you right away. Would you please give me a minute?", Heller answered.

"Of course, Sir.", Wyatt answered and left the room.

Heller quickly grabbed the gun and stuck it into his belt. Then he grabbed his jacket and looked into the only mirror inside the room whether the gun would be seen or not, before he left the room. Thank god it was not.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Audrey had also watched their arrival from her position. There had been such a great load of hectic that she at first hadn't even seen Jack among these men.

They had been unloading some wounded men from their trucks.

At latest there she had known that they were right headed for her position – for the hospital ward.

She had wanted to turn around and run back to her room, but in that moment she had seen that the sleeping doctor was awake now, opening the door, running towards her.

In a real panic she started to run down the corridor, into the other direction and hid behind the next corner she found.

It had been no second too early. That moment the doctor came to the place where she had sat before. The door on the other side of the corridor got pushed open and a huge group stormed in. Two medics lead them, pushing two gurneys with soldiers on them.

Feverishly Audrey had a look at them. She hoped that none of them would be Jack.

Finally she saw him, he was running at the end of the group, along with one of the others they pressed a piece of gauze against the stomach of the soldier who was lying at the gurney.

They turned right and ran down the hallway, into the hospital ward.

Audrey sank down to the floor and closed her eyes for a moment, with a big smile on her face. _Thank you, god,_ she silently murmured. _Thank you for bringing him back._

Eventually, she would have to sneak back into the ward. But she would wait here until the situation had settled down a bit.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The situation room was crowded with people, as Heller and Colonel Wyatt arrived. Everyone had waited for them.

Sergeant Rowan was already there.

Heller eyed him from head to toe. Actually he had to admit that Rowan looked terrible. His clothes were dirty and torn, on the sleeves of his jacket there was blood, most likely from one of his wounded men. He looked exhausted, as he stood at the large table, leaning over the large area chart and started to explain what they had faced.

There was still no helpful satellite or infrared image available. The power grid was down and with it also the landlines and the cell phone towers. All they knew was what Sergeant Rowan was telling them now.

He kept talking for ten minutes, where nobody interrupted him.

Finally Colonel McKinsey turned to Secretary Heller, asking him "Do you support my plans to go back in with two full companies tomorrow morning at sunrise?"

Heller nodded. "Absolutely, Colonel. I think we shouldn't waste any more time. How soon could your men be ready?"

"They are on standby. We can move within two hours. We'll get the troops ready while we plan the further strategy here."

"Do that. Meanwhile I'll inform the president.", Heller answered. "Where's Captain Bauer by the way?"

"I sent him to the hospital ward. He had some minor injuries.", Rowan answered.

"Will he be fit enough to lead one of the companies back into this?"

Rowan startled as he heard that. "I don't know, Mr. Secretary…", he stammered, "I'm not a doctor, but with all due respect, Sir, I think that all my men have gone through a lot there. I wouldn't like to place them into the front line again right away. We have enough fresh men here for that job."

Heller thanked him for his opinion, but he had no consideration for this. "I'm going to phone the president now and I can already tell you that she'll want you to be part of this. Your experience is beyond price."

Heller left the room, leaving Rowan and the others back speechlessly.

He was very contented with what he had heard. Two more hours and Jack would be going back again. He knew what he had to tell President Taylor to make her want Jack to be on this mission.

Right as he had left the room, his phone rang. To his surprise it was CTU director Wellington. He feared nothing good to come, as he picked up the phone.

"Mr. Secretary?", the other voice asked.

"Yes, Mr. Wellington, go ahead. Please make it short, I was just about to call the president.", he answered.

"It seems we have a small problem again.", Wellington sighed. "Mrs. O Brian is getting nervous. She tried to call Bauer three times in the last hours, but never got through to him, of course. Is there… something particular you want me to do about this?"

Heller took a deep breath. "No.", he finally answered. "I was just about to call the president about Mr. Bauer's pardon. Then the situation will resolve itself."

"Alright Sir. Sorry to bother you.", Wellington said, but he heard from Heller's voice, that this man was thankful for his warning. After all, his own reputation was also on the line. If this pardon wouldn't be signed by president Taylor soon, not only she would face severe trouble. He had also played a role in that game, not even a minor one.

He glanced at Chloe's desk. She was hiding her doings very well, but he was alert. He would stop her efforts to call Bauer, but at the moment, he wasn't sure how.


	21. Truth

Truth Monday, 03:35 am LT, Edwards Air Force Base

Audrey had counted 17 men who had entered the hospital ward before. Three were nurses or doctors, three were wounded badly and out of the other eleven nine had come back and left already. Jack hadn't been among them.

It had been quiet for a long time now, so she had finally dared to sneak back into her room. The way had been clear, nobody was around.

As she had reached her room she stayed inside and peeked out of the little gap which she kept the door open.

Now for the first time she saw what was going on at the other end of the corridor. To the right were two doors. They looked like they'd lead to operating rooms. At the far end there was a sickroom, out of which right now a soldier emerged. His right arm was put in cast and he wore a white sling.

That made number ten. Only Jack, the three doctors and the three poor guys in the operating rooms were left.

Audrey sneaked a peek through the door into the sickroom, as he opened it.

Yes, Jack was in there.

A few minutes later a nurse left the room, heading for the operating theatre.

Audrey quickly scampered down the hallway. Her bare feet made almost no noise as she was running. She opened the door to Jacks room and found him alone in there. He stood with his back turned to her, just putting on a fresh shirt. It was like all the army stuff- awful khaki green.

She slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. Jack hadn't even heard her up to that.

He turned around, expecting the nurse to be back, but he startled as he spotted her. "Audrey…", he breathed.

She smiled at him. "Jack."

He couldn't help smiling as well. It was so good to see her here, safe and sound and smiling back at him. Hurriedly he went over to her. "What are you doing up at that time?", he asked her. "You should be in bed, not running around."

She stretched out her arms and grabbed him by his loose shirt to pull him closer. "I was waiting for you.", she answered, as she pulled him to her. He let her do that, and put his arms caringly around her body. "I'm so glad you're back in one piece."

For a few endless moments he held her close. He didn't tell her how close he had already been to not coming back in one piece – literally. "Come over to the bed. Lie down." He guided her over to the bed.

"Jack, I don't need to…", she protested, but he wouldn't let her.

"Only because they gave you so many painkillers that it doesn't hurt you any more it doesn't mean you should now run around." Determinedly he helped her up to sit on the sickbed where he had sat before, as they had taken care of his shoulder.

Audrey saw the bloody gauzes and a glass with a metal splinter in it, standing at the table beside the bed. "How is your shoulder?", she worriedly asked him and brushed away his shirt to find a fresh bandage around it.

"It's really ok. That was no bullet, just a small piece of a ricochet.", he answered and took her hands into his.

Audrey sat there and stared at her hands, and as his hands around hers. First she had been happy, but now there was a wave of sadness which came over her. "Jack….", she began, but she couldn't finish the sentence. She had wanted to ask him why he had left her, years ago. But now, as he stood right in front of her, so close, she didn't have the heart to do this. It would sound like a blame.

"What's up, Audrey?" He brought his right hand to her face, and gently brushed a few strands of her blond hair to the side.

There were thousands of questions which she wanted to ask him. But as she looked into his eyes she just came to the conclusion that none of them was appropriate right now. Would he leave again? Of course, he would. Why he had broken away earlier, when she had tried to kiss him? Damn it, a few hours earlier he had told her that he had just lost somebody. She shouldn't have ever pushed him like that. In the end, out of the thousand questions only one made it to her lips.

"Why did you do that all?", she silently asked him.

"Why did I do what?"

"Come to Bakersfield… get me out… don't tell me you've been around by chance. I won't believe you."

Jack took a deep breath and leant forward- leaning his forehead softly against hers. "Audrey you know exactl I've done that.", he silently answered. "Your dad called me an hour after the bomb had gone off and told me you were right there. He didn't have to say anything else."

A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Thank you…", she tonelessly said. "I don't know how I can ever make that up to you."

"You don't have to.", he whispered. "You did so much for me. I'm sorry I left you so… abruptly before."

"Doesn't matter anymore.", she whispered back. "You returned."

None of them said a word for a while. They simply savored the nearness of the other. Nobody had to say a single word to know what the other was thinking, what the other was feeling.

It was the nurse who broke the silence, as she came back to their room. "Mrs. Anderson…", she stammered, surprised.

Jack stepped back at once, but it was too late anyway.

She had already seen that Mrs. Anderson and Captain Bauer were much more than good friends.

The nurse came over to them and gave Jack a wireless phone. "There's a call for you.", she stammered and then hurriedly left the room again.

He took it.

Audrey watched his back as he was on the phone. He went around in the room and was suddenly looking quite restless. He finally ended the call and put the phone away. "They want me to come to the situation room.", he murmured.

"What? Now? It's in the middle of the night."

He shrugged. "Sounded important." Hurriedly he started to button up his shirt.

Audrey watched him dress up. "Jack, will you come back afterwards?", she asked him.

"I will. Don't worry, it's just a debrief. I guess they need our information now since they're going to send other troops to Bakersfield tomorrow morning."

Audrey nodded, understandingly. She had been in this business for such a long time that she precisely knew that he was right. They needed to know what he had seen, to figure out a strategy for their next move.

As Jack put on the uniform which they had given him, it all felt unreal. It had been like fifteen years ago when he had worn such a jacket for the last time. Colonel Wyatt hat given him the prospect of a presidential pardon. Was that his chance now to get back to a sort of a settled life? If it was, then this was the last chance he'd get, he was sure.

"Jack?", Audrey asked. She saw how he had got lost in thoughts, standing in front of the mirror.

"Yeah? What do you need?", he asked and came over to her again, as he was doing his tie.

"I'm sorry… if I pushed you too far, earlier.", she murmured. "I don't know what on earth got into me… I hope you're not mad at me."

Jack shook his head no. He took her hand into his again bowed down and gave her a tender kiss onto her cheek. "Audrey, there's happened so much in these last years… we'll talk when I come back."

She was electrified by his touch. His beard stubble softly scraped over her skin but his lips felt incredibly soft. It wasn't just a short kiss for a good-bye. His lips lingered there, right at her skin. Audrey closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. She could read the signs now. This was just as close as he would get – for now. But she could read from every movement he made, from every word he said and every breath he made, that he wanted more.

As an answer she just pressed his hands faster, closed her eyes and savored the short moment.

That was the moment when he was suddenly determined to tell her the truth. He would tell her exactly why he had left- he would tell her about the accusations which Heller had brought over him to force him to leave the country. He would tell her about Renee. About everything that had brought them here.

He had made his decision right now. A wave of adrenaline rushed through his body. It had taken him so long to make that decision. He had been afraid of it, during all of the last days with her.  
But a few hours ago, as he had crouched behind the corner of a small concrete wall, seeing some other men of this platoon dying right in front of his eyes, he had so regretted not telling her the truth. For a few moments he had even thought he wouldn't ever return to get another chance. He placed another soft kiss at Audrey's cheek. "I'll be right back.", he whispered and left the room, knowing exactly what he was going to do upon his return.


	22. Choice

_Just some information for all of you who haven't read the first part of my story (another day): Chloe had tried to blackmail President Taylor, in exchange for a pardon for her and Jack. Taylor had made Wellington Director of CTU, and they had been giving Chloe and Jack wrong information on purpose, to let him assassinate some terrorists which they wanted out of their way.  
__President Taylor would give the pardon to her, but not to Jack. Instead of that, she brought James Heller into play, to resolve the situation without having to pardon Jack for murdering a Russian Minister... _

* * *

Choice Monday, 04:00 am LT, Edwards Air Force Base

As Jack turned left to enter the south wing of the building, where that situation room was, he saw a man waiting for him, at the far end of the hallway.

It was quite far away and it was rather dark, but he had seen at first sight that this was James Heller, awaiting him.

Jack slowed down. He had hoped to see that man never again in his life. But today's events hardly left a chance. Heller stared at him, immovably. He held both his hands behind his back, stood upright and there was some kind of madness in his stare.

Jack said nothing as he approached him. Five yards away he stopped.

"Jack.", Heller spoke. He took a deep breath. "Let's skip the chit chat and get to the point."

Jack stood there, saying nothing. He feared that Heller had nothing good for him.

"I don't want you around my daughter.", Heller began, "And you know exactly that I will always find means to keep you away. Either you do it the easy way or we do it the hard way."

_Let's do it the hard way,_ Jack wanted to answer, but he kept it to himself, which cost him a lot. He wasn't the guy who'd step down if somebody else simply asked him to. He couldn't step down without at least trying to fight. Too late he realized, that James Heller had already chosen the hard way for him.

Heller suddenly started talking to somebody behind Jack's back.

He turned around and saw two soldiers coming towards him. They had approached out of the nowhere.

Jack turned around again, facing Heller. He saw now that it was a gun, what the Secretary of Defense had hid behind his back.

"Don't make this any harder as it is, Jack.", the older man hissed at him, then he turned to the soldiers again. "Take Captain Bauer into custody. Holding room 5."

Jack weighed the odds if he had a chance again these men. Probably yes, but then there was still Heller with the gun left, although he doubted if James Heller really had the guts to shoot him – an unarmed man – at point-blank range. Either way, he was in the middle of the biggest Air Force base. There was no chance for him to get out.

He let the soldiers cuff his hands at his back. "Why are you doing this?", he asked Heller.

James Heller said nothing. Instead of it, he stared at him with a cold view.

"WHY are you doing this?", Jack asked him again, he had a hard time not to start shouting.

Heller didn't reply. "Bring him away.", he commanded.

The two soldiers grabbed Jack's arms and dragged him away.

.

Heller took out his mobile phone. He dialed a number in New York. "Is everything set?", he asked.

Wellington nodded his head, though Heller couldn't see it, saying "Yes. I'll be with her any minute."

"Good.", Heller answered, "Call me when it's done." He hid the gun again beneath his jacket and glanced at his wristwatch. He had one hour before somebody was going to be looking for the missing Jack Bauer.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Wellington drove along 6th street, Brooklyn, New York. He and Heller had finally found the right strategy – the needed some kind of leverage, to weigh against Chloe O Brian's evidence. She had been blackmailing him and President Taylor, but that was going to be over soon.

As a surprise, such a kind of leverage had been surprisingly easy to find.

His car rolled down 6th street on idle. He didn't really need to go fast- only fast enough to catch up with her, walking. He had observed her all the way home. She had just parked her car, on a parking space about four houses to the east of her flat. From there on, she walked alone, on the sidewalk behind the trees of that alameda. The first rays of the morning twilight were just beginning to bathe the street into a dim light.

He went a bit faster to catch up with her and lowered the passenger's side window. "Mrs. O Brian?"

She jerked as she saw and heard him, and then she started to run.

"Mrs. O Brian!", he shouted again. She wouldn't stop.

There was a crossroads right ahead.

He turned right, blocking her way.

She stopped, facing him.

Wellington pushed the front passengers door open from the inside. "Get in. We need to talk."

Chloe approached the car, but didn't get in. "I don't think so.", she said.

"Oh, we do. This is about President Taylor's pardon. We need to talk." Wellington grabbed a folder from the back seats and showed it to her. "I have it here."

She finally got in and closed the door behind her. "Give me the pardon. And also want to see Jack's."

Wellington started to drive.

"Where are you taking me?", she asked.

"Just around the block once, and then home. Are you ok with that?", he asked, but he didn't really care about her answer.

Chloe didn't feel comfortable. But Wellington really kept his word and went once around the block, thereafter stopping right in front of the entrance to her flat. She glanced at the flat, but of course there was no light on- there was no electrical power. She just hoped that Morris and the little boy would be okay, because she hadn't heard anything from them since this all had started.

Wellington's voice let her turn back around.

"Here it is.", he said and gave her the folder, along with a pen. "Sign at the bottom on the right."

Chloe opened up the folder and found a flawless paper. It was already signed by the president. Briefly she read it through. It was okay. The ambiguous clauses which she had seen so often included in pardons weren't there. That document was really okay.

She took the sheet out of the folder, in expectation of finding Jack's pardon also in here, but it wasn't.

"Where's Jack's?", she asked.

"He's not getting one.". Wellington answered. "Mr. Bauer is going to get a reprieve."

"That's not what we agreed on. A reprieve is worthless.", she said and threw the folder onto the dashboard. "I'm not going to sign like this. That's simply not what we've agreed on."

Wellington only started to laugh sarcastically. "Mrs. O Brian, come on. You were trying to blackmail the President of the United States, partly you even succeeded. But there's no single reason to call this a negotiation."

"What was it then?", she asked. "Get me what I want and you'll get what you want." She wanted to leave the car, but as she tried to open the door she found it closed.

Slowly a feeling of panic started to grow inside her. She turned around, facing Wellington. He was leaning over to her, too close for comfort.

Wellington decided to make her feel even worse. He placed his hand at her thigh, because he knew that would disturb her.

"What are you doing?", she asked, her voice was shaking.

"Mrs. O Brian, you're going to sign that pardon within the next ten minutes.", he began.

She said nothing.

"I brought this document here because you're fired."

"That's not what we've agreed on.", she said again.

He acted like he had overheard her. Instead, Wellington looked at the house where she lived. "You've got a real nice place here….", he began. "And a nice family, as I saw on the pictures on your desk."

"Leave them out of this.", she hissed. But she was getting more and more nervous.

"I'm leaving them out of this, Mrs. O Brian. But it would really be a shame if anything happened to them.", he continued. "Like when the Russians come after y o u, for instance."

She froze. "Why after me?", she stammered. "I had nothing to do with this all. And I can prove it."

Wellington sneered. "Not completely. There's one thing you did wrong, though." He felt her body slightly shaking beneath his grip. "I've been writing a letter- your dismissal. And there are two things that I can write into this. Either you left because of incompetence or…", he made a little pause, "… you had to leave because you helped Bauer the day he assassinated the Russian minister and part their diplomatic delegation."

"That's ridiculous!", she shouted. "I had nothing to do with this!"

He slipped even closer to her. "Really?", he silently asked. "Weren't you the one who helped Bauer escape? The one who prevented his arrest twice? The one who supplied him with critical insider information?"

Chloe stayed silent. Of course she had done all that. But she hadn't thought anybody would ever use it against her.

"The Russians aren't going to be so delighted when they hear all this.", he told her, "Guess who they are going to come after…" His view went over to her house again.

Chloe sat there, stiff, trembling and more afraid than she had ever been before in her whole life.

"Your choice. Can you really endanger your dear ones like that?", he asked, looking right into her eyes. He could read her like an open book. She would sign the document. She would take that deal.

Finally, Chloe grabbed the folder and opened it again. She read through the pardon once more. And then she took the pen, signed it and kept the second sheet of paper for herself.

"Thank you, Mrs. O Brian.", Wellington spoke and let go of her. He pressed a button on his left side to unlock her door. "Sweet dreams.", he sarcastically added, as she got out.

She didn't reply anything on that.

Instead, she stood at the sidewalk and looked after him as he drove off. She had the piece of paper in her hands that granted her freedom. But actually that wasn't even what she had wanted to get out of all this.

She had recorded this calls to rehabilitate Jack- this pardon should have been his.

She had sold him out to the authorities, deliberately, because she had been sure that she would be able to get that pardon for him. But after all she had failed. He was getting a reprieve, which wasn't really worth anything. They could cancel it any time they wanted to. They could do to him now whatever they wanted to.

She couldn't prevent a few tears, that suddenly started running down her cheeks.

She had sold him out for good. There was no leverage left on their side.


	23. Reprieve

Reprieve Monday, 04:21 am LT, Edwards Air Force Base

Jack found himself in a small cell. There was one chair right in the middle of it, and it was fixed to the ground. They had forced him to sit down here and then they had cuffed both his arms to the armrests of that simple, metal chair. It was uncomfortable, but he guessed that was exactly what they wanted to achieve.

He looked around in the room and didn't find a single camera, not even a mirror which would lead to another room for observation.

He was in complete solitude here. That was the most basic interrogation room he could think of.

A single bulb hung from the ceiling, directly on its wires. In the far corner of the room there was another chair. The walls, the ceiling and the ground were simple concrete. Two of the walls were pretty moist and mossy. This was a room in the basement of the old army building. It definitely looked and smelled like one.

Jack leant back and tried to fight the surfacing memories of China. _Damn it, you're in California,_ he thought, but at the moment he wasn't so sure if that was of any good to him.

Heller left him waiting here for a reason, he knew. He wanted to refresh his memories of China to intimidate him even before he would enter the room to talk.

Jack took a deep breath and closed his eyes. _Do what you've always done in that position,_ he told himself. He went back to the best memories that he could think of. He remembered how he had woken up the day before, next to Audrey. Her face had been so beautiful. He regretted that he hadn't simply leant over to her and had kissed her. One day he would make up for this. A little smile flit across his face.

Eventually he calmed down.

The noise as the door was being opened up ripped him out of his dreams.

Heller entered the room, the two soldiers he saw, stayed right on the outside, in front of the door.

He went across the room, grabbed the other chair and dragged it over to sit facing Jack, two yards away.

Jack watched him sit down on the turned around chair. Heller rested his arms on the backrest, and in his hands he loosely held his gun. Its muzzle pointed somewhere into Jacks direction.

Jack decided to say nothing.

Heller eyed him from head to toe. Here, in the dim light, one could have easily overlooked that this man had just come back from some hard days in 'enemy territory'. The uniform made a different man out of him.

"Why did you even come back, Jack?", he finally asked him. "You know you could have taken the easy way out and desert. Nobody would have stood in your way."

Jack didn't say one word.

Heller stood up and started slowly to walk around him. Finally he stopped in front of him, looking down. "Or was it because of Audrey?"

Jack looked up into Heller's eyes. "No.", he answered.

"I don't believe you, Jack.", Heller continued and then sat down again. "Tell me why you've come back."

Jack took a deep breath. "Two men of our platoon had been down already, four dead. We came under fire, the whole way out. I wouldn't have had a chance to survive this if I had separated from them." He looked right into Heller's eyes, "But yes, I thought about it."

Heller nodded, this time he believed Jack's answer.

Jack watched him playing around with the gun. If this had been any other politician, he would have been afraid that a shot might go off, but not with Heller. The man on the other side was a professional. He had had combat training once, quite a while ago. But in the end, this was what had kept him in his position for such a long time- the experience. He had earned Jack's respect for that.

"Tell me Jack..", Heller began, "… do you know what you are facing?"

Jack knew it exactly. "Yes.", he answered. "I do."

"I think you don't, Jack.", he said with a big sigh. He stood up again to walk around in the room. "You're facing a trial for murder in I don't know how many cases and treason. That you murdered this minister could even been seen as an act of terrorism. You know by yourself what they are allowed to do to terrorists."

Yes, he knew this. He knew all of this already. Heller wasn't telling him anything new. But the fact that he was telling him this now still made him a bit scared. They could throw him into any private holding facility they wanted. He had seen such places before. There was no law. This was just like Chinese prison.

His palms were beginning to get sweaty. With both hands he grabbed the armrests of the chair.

Heller watched him straighten up with discomfort. He had got him right where he wanted him.

Not even the thought of Audrey could calm him down now. Jack stared at the wall in front of him. A sudden fear came over him. "How did you get Chloe to sell me out?", he finally asked.

Heller stood right behind him now. He bent down, silently saying. "We didn't get her to do it. She did it all by herself."

"I don't believe you.", Jack hissed. That was not Chloe. She would never betray him. He knew her.

"Better believe it, Jack.", Heller answered. "There's been a lot going on behind your back."

"Tell me." Though it cost him a bit of effort, Jack turned around to face his opponent. "I think I've got a right to know."

Heller laughed, "You don't have any rights at all."

"I think I do, Sir." Jack watched how Heller approached the door, opened it, and took a folder from one of the soldiers. As he went back, past him, he handed the documents to Jack.

"Well, then let's have a look.", he murmured. "Open it."

Jack opened the folder. A photograph of a man, of Russian descent was the first page. The man had been shot into his head.

"Does this look familiar to you?", Heller asked.

Jack didn't say a word, instead he started to leaf through the photographs. Thirteen all together.

"Does anyone of them look familiar to you?", Heller asked again. But he already knew the answer. "You murdered these men, Jack."

He closed the folder and threw it onto the ground, in front of Heller's feet. "There was evidence against them."

"Alright, there was evidence." Heller sighed. "But it was forged."

"Why would anyone do this?"

"These men were terrorists. We knew that for sure. But…", he thought about the right words to tell this story, "but our official governmental channels couldn't eliminate them."

"Why not?", Jack interrupted him. "There's always a way."

"No, Jack, sometimes there's not." He picked up the folder and took the first five pictures out. "These men belonged to the Russian Department of Defense. The others were known separatists. President Logan signed a treaty with the Russians, a few years ago. It was kind of a freedom of information act. The Russian government automatically gets informed when we start investigations like these."

"So you needed a man from the outside to do the dirty work?" He couldn't believe this all.

"In the aftermath, it looks like this. Mrs. O Brian found out what had been going on. She tried to cut a deal for you and her." He made short pause. "She failed."

Jack looked into Heller's eyes again. "Were you behind all this?"

He shook his head no. "No. President Taylor had a man named Alexander Wellington. He was the one who lead the investigation about your murder on the Russian Minister and his delegation. He pretty soon found out that this man had been anything else but a saint. I read his report as he wrote it." Heller turned the chair around and sat down again. He closed the safety latch of his gun and put it on the ground, next to his chair. He didn't need it. "I read his report, Jack.", he repeated, "Wellington wrote you ran amok the other day."

Jack looked away. His view went into the far. "Did he?"

"Yes, those were his words.", Heller answered. He had a close look at Jack, wondering how he would react. He had guessed that Jack might become furious, angry, or would even yell at him, but he didn't. That man simply sat there, staring into the nowhere. Heller wished he could read that man's thoughts.

"Wellington forged evidence against these men, to make it look like they had had something to do with Agent Walker's death. He relied on your thirst for blood.", Heller spoke.

Jack turned back, looking right into his eyes. "That was not a thirst for blood. This was about justice.", he answered.

"You can't be serious, Jack. That was bloody murder!", Heller roared and stood up. "YOU are a bloody murderer!", he repeated, roaring.

"No, this was JUSTICE!", Jack shouted. Now he was in a rage. He tried to stand up, but the handcuffs tied him down.

"Come on Jack, don't you realized how ridiculous this is?", Heller shouted back. He crouched down in front of his opponent. "Wellington depicted you really well. You've become a homicidal maniac, Jack."

"No." Jack shook his head. "That's not true."

"Oh it is.", Heller sighed. He stood up again. "Tell me, was she worth it?", he asked. "Agent Walker?"

Jack replied nothing.

But Heller didn't let loose. He came over to Jack again, facing him. "Tell me Jack, was it worth this all?" He grabbed his Jack's chin, forcing him to look at him. "Answer me."

"Yes", he spat at Heller. "Now tell me what you want from me."

Heller let go of him and stepped back. He took a few deep breaths to regain his composure before he'd continue to talk.

"Mrs. O Brian tried to cut a deal for you and her.", he began. "She recorded phone calls between CTU director Wellington and President Taylor, proving their involvement in the assassination of the men I showed you. President Taylor agreed on a reprieve for you, Jack."

Jack laughed. "That's worth nothing. So you can throw me back in a cell whenever you want?"

"I can throw you in any cell I want, right now.", Heller replied. "This is the only opportunity you'll receive to get out of here. Take it or leave it." He threw the folder back at Jack, together with a pen. "The papers are in there. Sign them. I'll be back in twenty minutes."

Heller went over to the door and let one of the soldiers in to take the handcuffs from Jack. During all this he stayed at the door, his weapon drawn. He predicted Jack would try to escape.

But he didn't. He sat there, staring into nowhere again, not deigning to look at him.

Heller watched how the locked the door again. He put away the gun and ordered the men to stay here.


	24. Torn

Torn Monday, 05:10 am LT, Edwards Air Force Base

As Jack sat in this cell, alone, he realized that Heller had already made all arrangements. President Taylor would only grant him the reprieve if he joined their forces in return – where they would put him under constant watch. They would be moving out again in less than two hours and suddenly Jack was sure that Heller wanted him to be on this mission. As secretary of defense he would use his power to keep sending him to the front line until he'd die, he was sure. In the paper he had read that he would be transferred to Washington DC thereafter. He'd never see Audrey again. That was Heller's personal plan behind all this.

As he heard the door being opened he looked up, to find Heller standing in the doorway.

Jack took the bunch of papers and threw them in front of Heller's feet. "Here. You've got what you want now."

Heller looked down at the papers, but he didn't care to pick them up. "Believe me, that's not the solution I preferred.", he answered. He would have preferred Jack being locked away, forever. "You're free to go, Jack. Report in the situation room."

Jack stood, buttoning up his uniform. He and Heller exchanged mad views as they went past each other.

He had signed these papers only because of reason – he needed to get out of this cell, and get to Audrey somehow.

Jack went down the hallway. He looked if the other two soldiers would follow him. They did, but with a lot of space separating them. The schematics of this building were right in his mind's eye. The situation room was three floors above, to the right. The hospital ward was four floors up, to the left.

As he reached the staircase and was out of the sight of the other two soldiers he started to run. Two floors above he left the staircase and ran down the corridor to his left side.

They eventually figured out that he wasn't going to the situation room.

One of them took his phone and called Heller. "We lost him."

An angry look appeared on his face. "Stay down and leave it. I've taken precautions.", he answered and hung up. He started to run towards the hospital ward as well.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack pushed the door to the hospital ward open. He ran over to Audrey's room and entered, without even knocking at the door. But the room was empty. He ran over to the other room, where he had left her before. But it was also empty.

One of the nurses spotted him as he was running past her office. She went out onto the hallway. "Captain Bauer!", she called, as she saw that he was aimlessly running around in the ward, looking into every room. "Captain Bauer!"

"Where is she?", he asked her, "Where is Mrs. Anderson?" To call her by that name wasn't easy for him.

"She was brought away right now. She's being moved to L.A. county hospital. They just left. The convoy is waiting at the back entrance.", she answered.

"Why?" Jack was mad with worry about her. "Is she alright?"

The nurse nodded her head yes. "Yes. This was a direct order from the Secre…"

_That son of a bitch_, these words slipped out of his mouth, interrupting her. He started to run again, leaving her back stunned. Maybe not all was lost. He had been with Audrey, not even an hour ago. If they had brought her away right now, they couldn't have come that far in between. Maybe she still was somewhere inside that building. Right as he opened up the door and entered the long corridor down to the main stairwell, Heller came around the corner, approaching him. They both stopped, facing each other. Heller had the gun in his hands. "I knew you were going to do this, Jack.", he shouted down the hallway.

Jack replied nothing. Eventually he started walking towards Heller. He saw how the other raised the gun at him. "Are you afraid of me?", he provokingly asked the older man. Fifteen yards to go.

Heller sneered. "May I remind you that you were holding me at gunpoint the last time we had this kind of conversation?"

"May I remind you that you successfully destroyed my life after that?", Jack replied. Twelve yards.

"It wouldn't have had to come that far, Jack." Heller was starting to feel uncomfortable. Ten yards. "If only you had once thought of yourself in my position you'd understand me."

"I do understand you.", Jack answered. As a matter of fact he really did. He had wished James Heller to hell but after years of time he simply had to admit that he would have done the same if all that happened to Audrey had happened to Kim.

Heller could almost not believe what he heard. Did Jack Bauer once answer him in the affirmative? "I don't want you to destroy her life again, Jack. Keep the hell away. She's married. She's got her life back. I won't let you destroy that all."

Jack swallowed hard. "I won't.", he answered. "If only want her to know the truth." Six yards to go, seperating them.

Heller startled. "The truth about what?"

"You know exactly about what!", Jack roared, facing him. He was furious by now. He had tried to control his emotions, but he was helpless against them.

Heller rose his gun. "Careful, Jack.", he warned him. Three yards.

"Do you want to shoot at me?" Jack hissed and approached him even further.

Heller tried to keep his position, but he eventually went a few steps back, always keeping Jack at gunpoint. "I will if I have to."

"Right. Just as you would have let me rot in China? Or as you already make your plans in which battle the next days I'm going to lose my life?", Jack asked, yet coming closer, "I have nothing left… and nothing to lose." With one big step Jack had approached Heller. He pushed him backwards, against the wall. His left hand already lay around Heller's throat. He held him firmly, but didn't squeeze his throat- yet. "Whatever you do, James, I'm not afraid of you any longer."

Jack felt the muzzle of Heller's gun now right at his stomach. But Heller hadn't fired it at him. It was a silent understanding, which they both shared. "I want her to know the truth why I had to leave her.", he continued.

Heller looked into Jacks eyes. He could see his grief, the loss, the anger but also the hurt. "Knowing you almost killed my daughter. It was you who put her through all what she had to go through.", Heller said to him. "If you do this, you're going to destroy her life. I'm not going to let you do this."

"I'm not asking for your permission." Jack tonelessly said. A last time he looked right into Heller's eyes before he let go of him. He went past him, and then he turned around. "Shoot at me.", he provokingly said.

Jack started to walk backwards, away from Heller, towards the staircase that would lead him to the exit. "Shoot at me!", he shouted. "Do it."

James Heller held him at gunpoint. He was taking an aim. Jack's heart was centered with the iron sights. His finger at the trigger trembled.

Right at the entry to the stairwell Jack stopped.

The both looked into each other's eyes.

One small movement of my finger, Heller thought, and Audrey would be safe forever. He saw Jack, breathing hard, awaiting the pain, when the bullet would enter his body and tear his flesh apart. He held both his arms slightly away from his body, showing him the empty palms of his hands. He was unarmed.

He simply couldn't shoot an unarmed man.

Heller lowered his gun.

Jack couldn't believe what he saw. It needed a second until he realized that the Secretary had given up.

Heller stayed back, looking after Jack, as he pushed the door to the staircase open and disappeared.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack ran the whole way to the back entrance. He hoped it wasn't already too late.

A few people who came across his way were staring with disbelief as they saw him running. He didn't care.

As he pushed the door of the back entrance open the two guardsmen tried to stop him. "Get out of my way. That's an order.", he yelled at them. They were so frightened by his resolute action that they stepped back at once.

The convoy was still there. Two military jeeps, one in front and one in the back, an ambulance in between. Audrey were just about to board.

She had heard his voice. She stopped and turned around, seeing him run towards her.

"Jack!", she cried.

He ran as fast as he could. All the other people around didn't exist for him. He didn't care anymore if they were in public.

As he reached her he engulfed her in a hug.

"Jack", she said, concerned. She felt instinctively that something was horribly wrong.

"I love you, Audrey.", he whispered into her ear. "You have to believe me… I never wanted to leave you. I had no choice."

"Jack, what's wrong?", she worriedly asked, freeing herself from his hug. She eyed him from head to toe, finding him out of breath. "What's going on?" She brought her hands to his cheeks, softly stroking over them with her thumbs. "Jack?" He was staring right into his eyes with a haunted look in his eyes.

Like in trance he raised his hand to brush one of her blonde strands away from her face. It was hard to tell her the truth, way harder than he had thought it would be. As he saw her here, he found himself spellbound by her eyes.  
"I love you, Audrey.", he said again. He didn't find any other words.

"Oh, Jack.", she whispered and pulled him closer. "Tell me what's wrong."

He was at a loss for words. "I… I'm being transferred to DC.", he stammered. But that wasn't really what he had wanted to say. "I wanted to talk to you.", he began, "About what happened… after we… returned from..." _China._ Jack didn't dare to speak this word out aloud. He spotted how another car entered the area. It was a black Mercedes, it stopped right next to the convoy. A man got out.

Audrey startled.

Jack felt that she suddenly pushed him away. He let go of her, seeing that she was staring at the stranger. To her, this was no stranger.

He eyed the other man from head to toe. He was tall, black haired, wore a dark suit and went directly towards her.

Jack stepped back.

He felt her reach out for his hand to grab it for a short moment, but the next second she already let it go again.

She looked at her husband and tried to put on a smile.

The next second she turned back to him. "Jack..", she wanted to say, but her lips only moved for a mute plea.

"Audrey…", he heard himself say. This was probably the last chance he would ever get to talk to her. The other one still came closer.  
He couldn't tell her the truth now. He couldn't just throw these things at her and then leave.  
It broke his heart that she pushed him away, though he could understand her somehow.

She had been the love of his life. He was not ready to leave her.

Audrey stood right in front of him, an arm's length away. For a moment he thought of simply leaning over to her – to kiss her. The absurd plan came across his mind to grab her hand, take her and run far, far away. He dropped it as quickly as it had come. There was no chance for him to be with her. He had forfeited their chance with everything that he had done in the last three months.

Jack went another step backwards.

He saw how torn she was. The further he went away, the more desperate she looked at him. She wanted to hold him back and stop him from leaving, but she didn't know how. Once more she tried to signal him somehow not to leave.

Jack shook his head no. He _had _to leave. His days were numbered. Everything he'd do now could only destroy her life but not get them back together.

The steps he went now felt like the hardest ones in all his life. He yielded back again.

Her husband approached her and she let him hug her. Although she was in his arms she kept looking over his shoulder, into Jack's eyes. Her whole body was shaking. At the same time she hoped Jack wouldn't leave and she hoped Miles wouldn't notice what was going on here.

Jack was a few yards away, still yielding backwards. He couldn't stand that view. At the same time he couldn't turn away. From her lips he could read that she was trying to tell him she loved him.

It was no comfort.

Miles grabbed her neck, wanting to kiss her. She let him do so. Not letting him do it would make him suspicious.

That was the moment when Jack couldn't take it any more. He closed his eyes and turned away.

Audrey kissed her husband, reluctantly. She had done it a thousand times before. But this time it felt different. She kept her eyes open and tried to catch a glimpse of Jack. As she saw him leaving she couldn't help crying her eyes out.

Miles took her into his arms, trying to comfort her. He kept telling her everything was alright.

Nothing was alright. The man she loved was leaving. She could have prevented it. She could have ran after him.

Audrey felt her knees give in. Miles caught her. But he didn't understand her. He never would.

She saw Jack entering the building. One of the guardsmen held the door open for him.

He didn't look back one single time.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack was glad that he was inside the building now, standing in the empty corridor. He had fought hard to keep his composure up to now. But he felt how the feelings got the better of him.

An unoccupied chair stood at the wall. He grabbed it's backrest and threw it down the corridor, roaring.

He felt rage. He felt hurt. He felt that he was losing control. His whole life was slipping out of his hands. He regretted now everything that he had done during the last months. All the people he had killed and all the times when he had persuaded himself that it had been right.

Heller had been right. He had become a simple murderer.  
Now he had to pay for it.

He feared the moment he would have to go back to fight. He feared death. He feared everything.  
He ended up leaning against the wall, crying, sobbing and tearing his hair.

Heller watched him from the far end of the hallway.

As Jack saw him he quickly straightened up again. He briefly wiped over his face and put on the heartless stare again.

He started walking towards the situation room. It was time to face justice.

As he went past Heller, he avoided to look at that man.

"You won.", he silently said.

.

.

* * *

_Written to Jay-Z "Why I love you"._


	25. EPILOGUE: Execution

_I couldn't stop though I wanted to.  
__But it seems to me that there are a million open leads and stories which actually need to be told.  
__Two more chapters. One for Audrey, one for Jack._

* * *

Execution  
Thursday, 04:24 am LT, Los Angeles

Audrey woke in the middle of the night, out of a nightmare. She hadn't had any nightmares since three years now, but ever since Monday, when she had seen Jack for the last time, they had come back.

They had dragged her into that small room, where they had always made her watch Jack's interrogation. Cheng was there, already waiting for her. He had this certain bad smile on his face which gave her the feeling that he enjoyed these interrogations a lot, no matter if he got the information he wanted or not. He was doing this also for his personal, perverted pleasure.

He nodded at his guards to make her sit down at the only chair in the room.

Then they took her hands and bound her to the armrests. One strap went around her wrists, the other one around her lower arms. She couldn't move an inch after they did the same to her legs.

She wondered where Jack might be.

Cheng said something in Chinese. All the other guards left the small room.

Audrey lost sight of Cheng as he moved behind her chair. She wanted to turn her head to have a look for him but the way she was bound to that chair made it impossible. But she could feel that Cheng was there.

He stood somewhere very close behind her.

Audrey realized that this man had never even touched her, nor Jack.

But now he bowed down until his mouth was next to her ear. "Ms. Raines….", he silently said to her, "Do you want to talk with us today?" He already knew her answer.

Audrey said nothing.

Cheng had expected that.

He gave her a few seconds to think.

Audrey felt the seconds like they would be hours. His breath was hot and felt horrible on her neck. She hated him to be so close.

Finally Cheng stepped away. He went over to the large mirrored windows and knocked at it twice.

Will they bring Jack now? Audrey thought.

A guard switched on the light in the interrogation room.

Audrey screamed out loud.

Jack had already been here. They had already worked on him.

He hung from the ceiling, his wrists were bound in these old and heavy iron shackles. From her place it looked like he was unconscious. There was blood all over his face and all over the rest of his body. His wrists were swollen and from underneath the shackles blood was running down on his arms. It dripped from his elbows to the ground or ran further down on his torso.

If she hadn't seen the tattoos she wouldn't have believed this was him.

His hair had grown longer and his beard also. This was not the man who she knew from home. This was a different person, one who she had learned not to care so much about.

Both his eyes were heavily swollen and black. His mouth stood open and blood came out, smearing his chin and dropping down to his chest where it mixed with hundreds of bruises, little cuts and dirt.

Audrey closed her eyes. She couldn't watch this.

But Cheng came over to her. He held a whip and smashed it across her face. "Keep your eyes open Ms. Raines. Or somebody else will never open them again."

She winced of pain but opened her eyes again. With disbelieve she starred at Cheng.

He gave her a questioning look.

But she wouldn't say a word. If she said something, she knew, they would kill them both afterwards. The information they withheld was their only guarantee of life.

Cheng knocked at the window again.

Audrey knew what that meant.

One of the guards took a bucket full of ice cold water and casted it right into Jack's face.

A few moments later the bloody figure moved. He didn't have enough power to get to his feet but he raised his head slightly.

Right in that moment the other guard punched him hard into the stomach.

Jack's mouth opened for a mute scream.

Audrey could see his eyes widen up. They were blood-shot.

Lethargically his head sunk down again. After the fifth hard blow he got unconscious again.

The guards stopped and turned towards the mirrored wall again, asking Cheng what to do.

As he didn't give them the sign to carry on they stepped down and came over to Audrey's room again.

Cheng had said nothing all the time.

He had done the same things for how many times now? Audrey couldn't remember. It felt like years but it could only have been weeks up to now. Once they had hurt Jack so badly that she hadn't seen him again for five days.

Audrey got suspicious as Cheng didn't ask any questions. He said something to his guards in Chinese again and they loosened the bonds around her legs and arms.

The two guards took her by her arms and dragged her out of the chair, along with them.

Audrey feared nothing good to come. It couldn't be already over for today.

They pushed the door open. But to her surprise they didn't go left like the other times but turned right, into that interrogation room.

Cheng went right behind them.

Audrey ripped her eyes open. For the first time since weeks she could see Jack without a mirror separating them.

"Jack!", she yelled. The guards shook her brutally for that she had screamed. But she didn't care. Again she shouted his name.

Cheng behind her sighed. "Leave it, Ms. Raines. Even if he weren't unconscious, I doubt he'd be able to make any sense out of your visit."

One of the guards took the bucket and filled it up with ice cold water again. As the water was poured into the bucket Audrey glanced sidelong at Cheng. He now carried a gun.

A shiver ran up her spine.

The guard came over and before he poured the water on Jack he went over to the wall to release the chain which Jack was bound with.

As the chain was released Jack's body lifelessly dropped to the ground. He was truly unconscious.

The guard went over to him and started to pour the water over that lifeless body.

Audrey couldn't watch this. She tried to turn away and close her eyes but she couldn't choose not to hear his groans as he woke up. Groans like a wounded animal would make, not a human being.

His guard rudely grabbed him by the hair and his shoulders and forced him into a kneeling position. Jack wouldn't have been able to kneel there by himself, if the guard hadn't constantly held him.

He had his eyes open but he looked around aimlessly.

"Jack", Audrey called his name again.

He didn't even react.

Cheng started to laugh. "As I told you Ms. Raines.", he told her, "You'll hardly get him to look at you. Your dear Mr. Bauer was given a little dose of medication."

The way he had said the word 'little' Audrey knew it was a joke. Whatever they had given him, Jack was full of it. He was completely apathetic, drugged and mind shut-down.

Cheng held his gun to Jack's temple. Then he faced Audrey again.

"I'm tired of our games Ms. Raines. Either I get some answers of you right now or Mr. Bauer is going to die."

Audrey couldn't even remember any more what he had asked her. She had stood there and was forced to look at what would be Jack's execution.

"One." Cheng counted.

She couldn't tell him anything. For a short moment she closed her eyes but the picture of Jack stayed.

"Two." Cheng continued.

If she told him what he wanted to know she'd die, too, she knew that. They had trained them all at DOD to remember this fact. She couldn't save his life.

_Forgive me, Jack, _she cried as she looked into his eyes. He wasn't even noticing her, neither was he noticing that a gun was held against his temple.

"His blood will be on your hands.", Cheng announced as he cocked the weapon.

"Three.", he said and pulled the trigger.

.

Audrey woke up screaming.

She had screamed his name, back there and now in reality.

Miles jerked awake.

She was sitting in bed and stared into the Darkness. He sat up, too. "Audrey?", he asked and touched her shoulder.

As she felt his touch she screamed again, jumped out of bed and ran out of the sleeping room.

Miles sat there and thought a minute, whether he should follow her or not. It was not out the question that she could possibly do something very stupid now, so he followed her to the bedroom door.

He opened it for an inch and looked out into the dark living room.

Audrey stood in front of the large windows.

He could only see her back from here.

She had buried her face in her hands and cried.


	26. EPILOGUE: Face-off

Face-off  
Saturday, 09:33 pm LT, San Diego

"Mr. Bauer?" a voice called him from behind.  
The man who sat at the bar, sipping at a bottle of beer instantly turned around.

_There he is_, Jack thought, nodded at the bar stool to his left. "Please. Sit down.", he answered, then he put the beer down to shake hands with the stranger. He had only seen him once before, as he had picked up Audrey. In the days they spent together, he had never asked her anything about him, since he thought he wouldn't be able to cope with the fact that she wasn't his anymore. Seeing him at the airforce base had almost broken him apart. He had acted strong, wouldn't show her how he really felt like, because he didn't want her to feel the same way. Compared to that moment back there it was now surprisingly easy to look into the other's eyes. He had done the right thing, leaving her, he knew it back then, and this meeting now confirmed it. He felt no guilt, not like when he had looked into Paul's eyes, years ago.

Right now, before their meeting, he had done some research on that Miles Anderson guy because wanted to know who he'd be dealing with. Actually that man was a doctor, at one of L.A.'s biggest hospitals. His life's story just showed him to be a decent man, one that Audrey deserved.

"Jack Bauer."

They shook hands.

"Miles Anderson.", he replied as he sat down.

_Audrey Anderson, _shot through Jack's head. Now that was her name.

Miles ordered a beer, too. As he waited for it there was an awkward silence, filled only by the loud talking of all the others and the background music from the bar. It was a rather dark environment, lighted only barely by the few Watts of electric power which they had been granted by the army committee. The bar was close to the casern of Round Heights, just out of San Diego. It was filled mostly by soldiers. As he looked around, Miles found himself as one of the very few persons who didn't wear a uniform.

Even Jack was wearing one. Two small, connected silver stripes decorated the shoulder epaulets of his uniform. Miles wasn't sure what they stood for, but he guessed they gave him the rank of a captain.

"Have you been with the military for a long time?", Miles asked, nodding at the symbol.

Jack shook his head. "Actually, no.", he answerd. "I've joined again only a few days ago and they gave me back my old rank of a Captain."

"Alright.", Miles answered, nodding his head.

Then they sat again, neither of them had a word to say, though they both knew that a lot had to be told.

"Awkward silence.", Miles remarked.

Jack said yes and sipped at his beer again. He just didn't know where to start.

Miles finally took a deep breath and turned to him. "Captain Bauer...", he began.

"Call me Jack.", he interrupted.

"Alright, Jack. Thank you. I… I can't tell you how deeply grateful I am that you saved my wife.", he continued.

_My wife,_ again these words resounded in Jacks head. _I would like to call her that. I should have never let her go._

"Maybe you don't know why I called you, and why I wanted to meet you in person…", he stammered.

Jack turned and looked into his eyes. "I know it very well.", he answered, and really tried not to sound too harsh. "Believe me, I know it." He waited a few seconds to find the right words. "And if I were in your position, I'd probably do the same."

Miles was relieved to hear this. "Then you already know what I'm going to ask you, Jack. She's not the same any more. Something happened during the time you two spent together, don't think I wouldn't notice."

Jack nodded and turned back to the bar. "You came to hear it from me? That there was nothing that happened between us? Don't you trust her?"

Miles also turned back. He couldn't stand it to have this conversation with the man who he accused to be the… the what? The lover of his wife? The one she had probably gotten close to within the last couple of days? Her old love who had suddenly returned?

"As I asked her what happened, she couldn't tell me one word about it.", Miles continued. "It's like that every time when I asked her something about her past, regarding anything that somehow had to do with you. Jack, I don't know you, I don't know anything about your and Audrey's past and honestly, I'm not interested in it. I don't need to know everything to be in love with her."

Jack reflected on his and Audrey's past. He said nothing. The man next to him clearly was in love with her. Otherwise he wouldn't have taken the long way to come here – especially this day – just to talk to him.

"There was absolutely nothing.", Jack replied. "I give you my word on that."

"Why have you gone to a nuclear blast site to get my wife out?"

"It was not a nuclear explosion.", Jack remarked.

Miles' voice got loud. "You didn't know it at that time!"

Within the blink of an eye Jack pulled around and leant over to him. His face was only an inch away from Miles'. "What do you want to hear from me?", he hissed.

Miles wasn't frightened. "The truth.", he hissed back. "Why have you done it? What do you still want from her!?"

Jack didn't know what to tell him. The truth? What was the truth after all? That Heller had used him, because he knew he would do everything for Audrey? That he hadn't known she was married again? No, no matter if married or not, that would have made no difference.

Jack took a last look into Miles' eyes, thereafter a deep breath and turned back to the bar. He reminded himself to calm down. He had saved Audrey so she could continue her life. There was no place for a fight with her husband.

"I would do anything for Audrey.", he said. "Anything."

"To get her back?"

"No." Jack took a big gulp of the beer. "For her good. Those years she spent with me… I think they were the worst of her life. I owed her that."

Miles nodded, though he didn't quite understand. "Do you still love her?"

"I'm not answering that question.", Jack murmured. _Yes, with all my heart,_ he told himself.

But Miles could guess it, even without an answer. A cold shiver ran down his back, as he watched the man next to him out of the corner of his eye. "Are you going to mess up our lives now?" He was afraid of the man named Captain Bauer, who had come out of the nowhere and suddenly taken a role in their lives which he couldn't deny.

Jack shook his head. "No."

"I see.", Miles answered. His view got stuck at the ring at Jack's hand. "You're married yourself?"

A bit confused Jack looked up, first at him, then at the ring. "No, I'm not.", he said and pulled it off his finger. In the dim light he almost couldn't read what was engraved on the inside. It was Teri's name and their wedding date. "My wife died, quite a while ago. I still carry the ring around with me."

"I see.", Miles said again. "Look, Jack, I don't know what to do or to say. I feel like I need to set things straight. I want her back."

"She never was away." Jack put his marriage ring back on. All of a sudden, he felt like wearing it again. Wearing this uniform always reminded him of his time with Teri.

"She is right now. I saw it in her eyes. She is so changed."

"Miles, she went through hell, there. We are at war, do you realize that?" Clenching his teeth he thought back. "We both fought for our lives. Don't you think that alone could be a reason she's somehow changed? That she doesn't want to recall all these memories to talk about it?" He took a deep breath and tried to push the pictures of China away, which had come back to his mind for a second. "Believe me, I've been to some very dark places in my past, Miles. I can understand her. I prefer to push the memories aside rather than talking to anyone about it and having to live through it again."

Miles somehow seemed to understand. This life was so far away from his – so different. There were things which he couldn't ever imagine. But still it left him back heartbroken, that Audrey didn't want to talk with him about it, not even though he loved her that much. "Let me ask you a question, Jack. Wouldn't you even talk, if it was she, who asked you?"

Jack really wanted to reply something, but he was at a loss of words. _I did. And she did, _these words burned at his lips. He simply couldn't place this dagger in Miles' heart. Suddenly another officer approached them. "Captain Bauer, Sir?", he asked, saluted. _Thank god_, Jack thought, _thank you for getting me out of this conversation_.

Jack stood up, turned to him, saluted. "Yes?"

"Major Young is here. He would like to see you in his office."

"Now?" Jack had a look at his wristwatch. It was past 9 o clock in the evening. "I've already been out of duty.", he replied, waving at his beer.

"That doesn't matter. Please follow me, it's important."

"Alright. Give me one minute, I'll be right with you, outside.", he sighed.

"Sir." The other Captain nodded to Miles, before he left.

Jack turned to Miles, for a final time. Now, as there was no time left, he suddenly found words for a thousand more sentences which he could have told him. But he decided to make it short. After placing ten dollars at the bar, he began, "Miles, I have to go now. I don't ever want you to tell Audrey about this conversation, ok?"

Miles nodded.

"I won't come back. I won't mess with your lives, and I told Heller that already. I'm being transfered to DC, anyway. I didn't want her to have the illusion that this could possibly work out." He remembered Paul, Audrey's first husband. As she had stood before the final decision, whether to take him or Paul, she had decided for her husband. Jack knew that he had nearly broken their marriage apart when he had that affair with her. "I don't want to have an affair with her." _…again_, he silently added in his mind. "so just please go home and take good care of her, will you?"

He still nodded. "I will."

Jack took his baret and then he went away.

Miles sat there and watched him leave. Even after this he stayed for a long while, watching the door through which Captain Bauer had left. He had gotten an answer on a few of his questions. Some of these he hadn't liked to hear, but he was still grateful that this man just walked away now.

Six days ago, as Audrey had returned, he had been happy and grateful to see her.

Now he had seen him. He had seen his face, when he talked and thought about her.

He had seen her face, when she had been thinking about this man. He was afraid that Audrey would never watch him like that.

He had seen him leave, breaking her heart.

He had seen him leaving now- with a broken heart himself.

Finally, Miles stood up. He couldn't fight this awful feeling in his chest. Secretly, he feared that Audrey would never be the same again.

.

.

* * *

_Enough now. That was fallout. _

_I would be really happy if you review. _

_Thank you all._

_UPDATE September 14, 2013:  
I've decided to continue in 'Truth'.  
Audrey is going to see Jack again. I promise._


End file.
